Dragon Boy, vol 1
by Tenchiko
Summary: A dragon is raised among humans. What happens when he begins to revert back to his instinctual ways? On his fifteenth year, he and his brother will come across a revelation that could destroy their family and possibly determine the war between Vikings and dragons once and for all.
1. The Raid pt 1

_Originally posted: Sept. 17, 2016_

 _Chapter edited: Jan. 3, 2019_

 _Good Lord, I've been at this for a long while._

 _Okay so to rehash my prior A/N: "So I was messing around on here reading HTTYD fics when I stumbled across a realization. There are so many fics out there exploring what it would be like if Hiccup was raised by dragons. What if he was taken along with Valka by Cloudjumper? What if he was picked up by Toothless? What if he was a completely wild child? Etc. Etc._

 _As much fun as those fics tend to be, I couldn't help but wonder: What about Toothless? What if it was him being raised by the other species?"_

 _So_ something something _it snowballed from there,_ something something _, LET'S GET TO THE FIC!_

 _Read and Relax!_

 _Disclaimer: I don't own How to Train Your Dragon. If I did, then (spoiler!) Stoick wouldn't have been killed off in the second movie, and Hiccup would be fluent in Dragonese by now. So there. That's the only disclaimer you're getting_. _Thank you._

* * *

Hiccup

Before we begin, my name's Hiccup (in case my name on the top of the page didn't tip you off). It's a scrappy name, I know, but…my dad picked it. …Yeah…

But talking about my family's poor taste in names is not the point of this document. You're here to hear a story about a boy and a dragon, and I only hope that you'll believe it.

I think that the people of my village have this misconception about me. They think that every morning, I wake up, do a few stretches, and think to myself _What kind of chaos can I start on this dandiest of ol' days?_

Well guess what?: I don't do that. _Ever_.

In fact, on the morning my unbelievable story began, I rolled out of bed and slunk to my door, and the first coherent thought that slammed my brain cells back to the land of the living was, _ODIN'S GHOST, IT'S A RAID!_

See, the minute I nudged the door open, lo and behold, I was greeted by the roar of a Monstrous Nightmare barreling a stream of blazing fire my way. I slammed the door shut and pressed my body against it as the fire pounded into the door. It was a miracle that I was able to hold it closed. I could feel the heat seeping through and the thick mass of wood that was separating me from a toasty death.

I internally cursed. "Dragons…"

I don't go looking for chaos and mayhem, you see. They come hunting for _me_.

As soon as I was certain that I wouldn't be stepping out into the mouth of a hungry, oversized lizard, I took in a deep breath and screamed, "TOOTHLESS! WAKE UP!"

Instantly, there was a loud thunk from the loft followed by a series of crashes. I rolled my eyes. That guy could sleep through anything if he put his mind to it.

Finally, I heard a muffled reply. "Is it a raid!?"

"No, we're having a party! Dad wants you to come for the mead!"

Something big and wooden splintered apart outside followed by a cacophony of massive flapping wings.

Incoherent mumbling came from up in the loft before I finally saw my brother run down the stairs. The disheveled kid with a bed head is Toothless, my brother. For the record, he's adopted, if his darker palette wouldn't tip you off.

Mom found him on some "unplanned trip" to a ghost town island while I was still a baby. Apparently, his entire village had been wiped out, but from what, exactly, I couldn't say. A raid, I'd always reasoned. Anyway, Mom's nature wouldn't let her leave him alone, so instead, she took him home and raised her with me. And thus began our beautifully wacky friendship.

Mom's also the one who picked his name. "Even though his people had fought hard," she would say, "only the _toothless_ one survived."

Personally, I think she just called him as she saw him.

The screeching dragons outside made the house rumble. Suddenly a nearby building crumbled as something powerful slammed into it.

"Fantastic," I muttered. The burning wood wafted through from the windows, and the smoke was already stinking up our house.

"C'mon!" Toothless said as he grabbed my hand and ran out the door.

The minute we stepped outside, it was mayhem. Dragons were everywhere, shooting fire and stealing livestock left and right. The animals were bleating and howling as their pursuers closed in on them. Vikings were fighting off the invaders with mighty war cries and big axes, as was expected from them all. Some were passing weapons out to every man, woman, and child they passed while others tried to redirect the herds, so they wouldn't trample our warriors in stampedes.

Welcome to Berk, folks.

We'd barely left the house when we were both knocked down on our backs by a stray ram.

Toothless groaned. "You okay?" he asked. He dragged himself to his feet before offering me his hand which was wrapped in strips of white cloth.

"Kinda."

After he pulled me up, we looked at one another as we stood in the midst of Berk's organized chaos.

Toothless eventually asked, "Did I forget to say good morning to you, by the way?"

I gave him a dry look before it dissolved into a grin. He returned it with his own toothy smile.

We ran through the village and dodged flying weapons and rushing Vikings. Toothless had always been much faster than I was, so I nearly lost him several times. Dragons swooped down on us, and more than once, Toothless pushed me under him. I finally protested after the fifth time, and he let up. Eventually, we ran through a particularly rowdy group of Vikings who were less than pleased to see us.

"What are you two doing out here?" one cried.

"Get inside!"

"Go back inside!" two others demanded.

We ignored them and moved on. Toothless moved nimbly through the crowds while I stumbled and tripped over myself. I was grateful he would never leave me behind.

We'd pressed through a band of warriors who were taking on some Nadders when I was suddenly grabbed by the back of my collar.

"HICCUP!" boomed a familiar voice.

* * *

Toothless

You know, I'd been having a really off day. I'd gotten woken up by Hiccup's screaming, I was nearly trampled by men and yaks alike, I nearly lost Hiccup twice to charging bands of blood-thirsty dragon killers, and the sun hadn't even had the guts to show its stupid face yet. I hated the day, and I hated the dragons for having the audacity to wake me up at this unholy hour.

 _Someone needs to tell them to pick a different time_ _for this raiding crap._

If Hiccup were a mind reader, I imagine he probably would have teased me for my skewered priorities.

The minute our father snagged me by the collar, I just knew this morning was a grand gesture from Loki himself.

"What is he doing out here agai—What are you doing out here!?" he asked a meek Hiccup.

My brother looked anything but pleased to be held by his vest's collar as easily as a coin purse of grain. Without waiting for an answer, Dad let Hiccup down and shoved him into my unsuspecting arms.

"Take your brother, and make sure he stays inside. Both of you," he instructed sternly.

I gave a curt nod and dragged Hiccup by the wrist all the way to the smithy.

It's a little hard to tell with all that beard obscuring his face, but I swear, that hulking bear of a man was definitely our dad. Well, _Hiccup's_ more than mine, despite the deceiving twig vs mountain ratio, but that's beside the point. Genealogy had never been worth a troll's toe in this family anyway.

During these raids, Dad has always put me in charge of keeping watch over Hiccup. As chief of the tribe, his focus needed to stay on the entire village. He couldn't stop for a minute just to keep both eyes on us, and Hic has always had a bad track record of getting into trouble.

Considering the fact that Hiccup has survived all these years under my watch, I've been doing a pretty good job, right?

 _…Right_?

The torches were set alight. The heat and smoke from the flames warmed my exposed skin, and my nose wrinkled as the cloudy smell joined the cluster of sweat and blood from a thousand bodies contained within our sparse space.

We were nearly at the smithy when we had the displeasure of running into less-than-pleased parent number two!

"Hiccup!? Toothless!?"

I screeched to a halt, and Hiccup slammed into my back. I stumbled but kept my balance while Hiccup, from behind me, muttered, "Oh great" under his breath.

 _Took the words right out of my mouth._

"Boys!"

We turned in freakishly perfect unison to face our mom.

"What are you two doing out here!?" she cried as she herded us into the smithy.

"Moooooom!" Hiccup moaned.

"No, I won't hear it!" she said curtly. "Inside with you, now!"

I followed without complaint. Mom had always despised dragon raids because it brought out the worst in everyone, and she's always hated the idea of us running around during a raid even more. Considering the fact that dragons seemed to go out of their way to fry us, I couldn't even blame her.

She dragged us into the forge and hastily dusted off any dirt she saw on our clothes. We protested loudly when she tried straightening our shirts, but she gave us _the eye_ and we shut up quickly.

"Stay inside," she instructed, "and stay out of trouble. Understood?"

Hiccup snorted. "Don't worry, Mom." He swung an arm over my shoulder. "Since when have _we_ ever caused trouble?"

I gave him a wicked smirk before offering Mom my most innocent smile. She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes.

"I keep a list for both of ye," Gobber replied from behind us.

Gobber is a squat man with interchangeable hands and a peg leg. He's the blacksmith of Berk, and he had been Hiccup's mentor ever since my brother was small. Well…small _er_.

Gobber dumped a pile of swords into Hiccup's unsuspecting arms. My poor brother nearly toppled over from the weight. "Sharpen these, would ye?"

"Keep them out of trouble," Mom said as Hiccup lugged his burden over to the table.

Gobber chuckled. "Don't ye worry, Val." He patted my head. "Your boys are in safe hands—er…hand."

As I resisted the urge to immaturely bite at the offending hand, Hiccup snorted at Gobber's comment. He tried to muffle it by pressing his apron over his mouth while my lips visibly twitched upwards. He returned the smile with a smaller one of his own.

I crossed my arms and interrupted Mom and Gobber. "You know I still have fire brigade work, right?"

Mom frowned, but to my surprise, she didn't immediately protest. She'd had little enthusiasm for the job when I'd first signed up, but as the chief's son, everyone had expected me to volunteer with the other clans' children—especially after Hiccup, Dad's legitimate heir, had been practically banned from joining.

"Have you checked on your hands today?" she finally asked.

I sighed and grumbled as I unwrapped my left hand. The baked skin underneath was as cracked as it had been yesterday…and the day before that. It wasn't necessarily dry, but the cracks left a pattern over the darkening skin that had already spread halfway down my elbow.

I absently ran my fingers over the surface. The afflicted skin wasn't smooth, but it didn't have its natural texture either. It was more like worn down sandpaper.

"Now I have," I finally said as I re-wrapped my hand. Mom looked skeptical, and I rolled my eyes. "It's not gonna change just because I'm near some fire."

Eventually, Mom sighed and nodded. "Just…be careful."

"Yes, ma'am." With that, I ran out of the forge and back into the battleground.

"Stay with your group!"

"GOOD _BYE,_ MOM! LATER, HICCUP!"

"Go get 'em, bud!" Hiccup shouted in return.

I pumped a fist into the air to let him know I heard him.

Two near-tramplings later, and I'd arrived at the village's central well where the other members of the fire brigade were gathered. Snotlout, my cousin, was trying to flirt with Astrid Hofferson as, per usual, until she punched him in the gut for his patronizing stupidity. Fishlegs Ingerman, a hulking boy with the disposition of a dandelion, smiled and waved me over. The Thorston twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, were fighting over who got to carry which one of their two buckets.

 _They're practically identical buckets, for Thor's sake!_

Ruffnut nearly swung one of the buckets into my head, so I ducked and plucked it out of her hands. I then snatched away the other bucket before either twin could protest.

"You get this one," I said as I shoved one into Ruffnut's hands, "and you take this one." I wedged the other bucket over Tuffnut's head.

That should keep him occupied for a while.

While Ruffnut sniggered at her brother's expense, Snotlout sauntered up to me with his obnoxious greeting on his tongue. "Morning, _Toothy_."

I scowled while my tongue rolled over my canines. My parents must have been part wolf for me to have been born with fangs for canines.

"It's _Toothless_ ," I deadpanned.

I missed Hiccup already.

Everyone filled their buckets before we scattered to our assigned sections of the village. Soon the air was filled with snake-like sizzling from the dying flames. I lingered by the smithy—the only building reinforced with fireproofing—while I did my job.

Every now and then, I could see Hiccup running to and fro inside, and I felt a pang of loneliness. If Hiccup could carry a full bucket and banish his bad luck long enough, he could have been with me on this otherwise dreary job. Or maybe, if I'd had the option, I could be inside the smithy sharpening blades and arming warriors to the teeth with Hiccup.

As I ran about under the guidance of my muscle memory, I tallied every house I got under control. I hadn't noticed Astrid behind me when I later nearly swung my full bucket into her head. Only her reflexes saved her from getting a nasty goose egg.

"Oh, shi-!"

"Watch it, muttonhead!" she growled.

I narrowed my eyes. "You watch where you put your big head!"

"I beg your pardon."

" _Oh_ so you _can_ beg," I said snarkily.

If looks could kill, she would have slain me in a heartbeat. Growling, she swung a fist at me, but I was fast enough to dodge. I gave her my biggest grin and turned on my heel.

"Later, blondie!" I said with a salute.

With that, I ran off in the other direction, her shouts reaching me even when I was too far for her to catch me.

I let myself look back just in time to catch Hiccup giving me the evil eye. Having seen the whole thing, he crossed his arms and tapped his fingers impatiently as he glared. Ugh. He looked just like mom.

Dragons flew overhead, blanketing the village with their fire and terror. They swooped down and out of their droves as they attempted to make off with as much food as possible. Livestock shrieked as they were swept up into the dragons' talons. The flying beasts were calling out to one another and letting out glass-shattering battle cries that would frighten lesser men.

My fingers dug into the heels of my palms.

I hated the dragons. Mom would have gotten on my case for saying that, but it's true. They hunted us for no reason, and they stole resources that they could easily catch on their own in the wild. They ruined villages and endangered both innocent families and their own kind. They were selfish, and I couldn't wait until I could learn to fight them off myself.

I spotted my father and his band of warriors who were fighting off a hoard of Monstrous Nightmares. The beasts were trying to make off with baskets of fish! I watched, proud, as Dad wrestled with one of them while he kept his men out of harm's way.

 _He_ was the kind of warrior I wanted to become.

He took his opponent down with his bare hands while one of the other men pinned its neck. I had to look away before they could chop off its head. As much as I didn't like the dragons, the sight of their blood disturbed me.

I blame Mom.

Speaking of…

I scanned the crowd until I could see my mom's slight form. She was being reckless again. While trying to stop a Viking from slaying a copper Nadder, she had exposed herself for the monster to strike. My heart leapt as it snapped for her head, but she wrenched the axe out of her fellow Viking's hands before spinning around to defend herself.

She dealt out harmless feints that kept her safe without wounding her attacker, but they served their purpose well.

See? Great woman; real spitfire.

Then I heard a loud blast not far from me. I was ready to investigate, but I didn't need to look far to lay eyes on the source.

 _Oh no._

* * *

Hiccup

Mom was being reckless again…

It killed me to just hang around in the forge while the rest of my family was out there _doing_ things that were actually important. Even Gobber had left to join the brawl about an hour before, so now it was just little old me…as usual…

Gods, I hated this.

I was sure that there was something I could do to help out there. But…

I sighed.

It wasn't like anyone would let me _try_. They'd probably say I'd cause more harm than good. I couldn't even blame them. Even on days when there were no raids, I always ran into some kind of trouble; trouble that Toothless was stuck digging me out of. And every time, villagers would just shake their heads, wiggle a scolding finger, and chalk up my trouble to unnameable bad luck that perpetually haunted me.

As I mused over my crappy lot in life, I'd heard the explosion.

"What the-!?"

I dropped my pile of weapons and leaned out the window just in time to see Toothless roll away from the source. He and I locked eyes before he made the snipping motion with his hands. My stomach turned to stone dropped to my feet.

Oh no.

The Stormcutter.

Lo and behold, the Stormcutter plowed through the sea of fire and smoke, bursting out in all its scaly glory. It's hulking, four-winged form and bright red crown was a regular sight for Berk. Toothless and I have had to run from this beast since we were children; once around early spring and once before the first freeze, every year.

I gritted my teeth and kicked aside my pile. _Not today, dragon_.

And so would begin the extraordinary tale of Toothless and Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III.

Gods help us all.

* * *

 _And so it begins..._

 ** _— Tenchiko_**


	2. The Raid pt 2

_Originally posted: Sept 18, 2016_

 _Edited repost: Jan. 3, 2019_

 _Read and Relax!_

* * *

Hiccup

I ran to the back of the forge where my private work area was squared off. I shoved papers and boxes out of my way as I fished out my latest invention: the Mangler.

It was my latest idea for taking that thing down.

See, it looks simple…until you set it up. Then it becomes a large, double-stringed crossbow designed specifically for launching bolas. I've been working on it for months, but whether or not it was ready for this morning…

 _I…probably shouldn't jinx myself._

I grabbed ahold of the handles before running out of the forge. I ran past a few other Vikings and brushed off their indignant shouts with flippant responses that I can hardly remember now. I set up the launcher near the most untouched reach of the village. When I was sure it was set, I hurried off to look for my brother.

He had a smaller build like me, and his nimble, shadow-like movements made it hard for anyone to notice him.

It took time, but eventually, I caught sight of his silhouette while he ran through a fray of Vikings. He was doing pretty well at hiding from the Stormcutter, considering the fact that the dragon was a bloodhound when on our trail. Toothless hid under a house's shadow, and I took that opportunity to meet up with him.

I think I nearly gave him a heart attack when I slid right next to him.

"WHAT THE— _Hiccup_!?" he hissed. " _What_ are you _doing_ here!?"

"Saving your butt!" I hissed back.

"By getting yourself caught in the middle of a crossfire?"

We both cringed when we heard the shriek of the Stormcutter as it approached our general direction. I dared to look from our hiding spot only to see Vikings circling around it. The Stormcutter hardly broke a sweat as it swatted its attackers away like pesky flies.

That…didn't really help my fraying nerves at all.

Toothless probably noticed because he shoved me back into the safety of the shadows.

"Get back to the forge," he demanded.

I swatted away his hands, indignant. "No, just listen, would you?"

Toothless glared but gave me a curt _go ahead_ motion with his hand.

"I have a plan—"

He moaned dramatically. "We're gonna die, aren't we?"

The sound of a nearby explosion seemed to reply for me.

"No. Shut up."

"What do you think Mom'll say at our funeral?"

"I don't _know_! And I don't _care_!"

"'My sons were crazy, reckless, and stupid,'" Toothless said in a light, accented voice. "'Mad men in every sense of the word. May Valhalla have mercy on my dearest idiots, and hopefully, they won't blow the place up before the rest of us can join them.'"

…That actually _sounded_ just as rehearsed as it looks on paper.

"Tooooothless!" I cried. "Just. Listen!"

I told him my plan. His glare never wavered, but as long as he hadn't shot me down, I pressed on. His eyes remained narrow and his lips pressed into a frown even after I was finished, but then he sighed.

"You have five minutes to get ready," he said.

I grinned.

Toothless shifted his position and lowered himself into a crouch. He held up his wrapped hand and started counting down.

 _Five…four…three…_

I was prepared to make a mad dash towards the Mangler.

 _Two…ONE!_

The two of us shot off in separate directions.

I took my place behind the Mangler while Toothless shouted and waved his hands until the Stormcutter noticed him. It cocked its head before letting out a loud roar. Toothless ran in my direction while it chased him on foot. Its massive size and lumbering gait didn't hinder it at all as it crashed through people and other dragons in its haste to get Toothless.

I couldn't help but second guess myself as I watched the scene play out. Toothless was fast, and he could dodge almost anything thrown at him. I knew that for a fact, but watching the Stormcutter follow after him like a hurricane of scales and fire…

"He'll be fine," I whispered to myself. "He'll be fine."

Then, _finally_ , he and the dragon were within range.

I peered through the contraption's focal lens as I aimed the machine at the dragon. My nervous energy was being completely funneled into my white-knuckled grip on the Mangler.

Toothless broke into the clearing exactly when the Stormcutter spread open its wings. Just as I'd guessed. Only one set opened, but that was all it needed to become airborne—at least for now.

As he came closer, I heard Toothless shout, "Any day now, Hic!"

Without a word, I sent the bola flying towards the dragon. The recoil knocked me over, but I scrambled to get up fast enough to watch the show. I almost couldn't accept what I saw because it happened so slowly. Toothless dove down and rolled far away from the dragon. The bola whizzed through the air. Imagine my shock when the ropes wrapped around their intended target. The Stormcutter screeched in surprise before hitting the ground in a crumpled heap.

"I hit it," I muttered silently. I still couldn't quite believe what just happened. "I-I hit it!"

"You got it!" Toothless shouted.

I blinked as the reality hit me. My smile spread from ear to ear before I let out an ear-shattering holler. Toothless's victory cry matched my own before we both ran towards the dragon. We could still hear the chaos from the battle in the center of the village, but it became little more than background noise as we approached our personal demon.

Before I could get anywhere near it, Toothless had grabbed my shirt collar. I was about to protest until he silenced me with a sharp frown. He motioned for me to stay behind while he slowly approached the dragon. I scowled but complied.

As we got closer, I took in how _massive_ this thing was. It was bigger than our dad! Bigger than a Nightmare even! It had a flat face that was menacing thanks to its flaming crown and thick brow-like horns. Its glowing yellow eyes sent chills down my spine.

It was just…laying there.

Toothless crouched down slowly, and I copied his movements. He crept towards the dragon's face, and it was then that I realized it was watching us.

"Six years," Toothless said. I didn't know whether he was talking to me or the Stormcutter. "You've been tormenting us for six years."

Then he pulled a dagger out of his pocket. It was a curved blade weapon I'd given him years ago. It was designed for creating lethal wounds by twisting the blade after it's plunged into its target.

"No more." With one last scathing look at the Stormcutter, he looked up at me and offered me the dagger. "You want to do it? You did catch him after all."

I gulped and shook my head without a second thought. I immediately cringed, regretful. Before I could take it back, Toothless's eyes softened, and he nodded. Thank Thor.

Toothless turned back to the dragon and readied his dagger. It glinted in the fiery light that surrounded our village.

I peered at the dragon to gauge its reaction. Its eyes weren't slitted like I thought they would be. Those eyes were…dilated. Calm even. They never stopped looking at Toothless. It was like the dragon didn't even notice the dagger.

 _Something's off here_.

"Too—"

 _KABOOM!_

The explosion drowned my voice out before I could speak anymore. Behind us, a Zippleback left a now-destroyed food storage tucked near the island's cliffside. Following it was a Monstrous Nightmare that flew out of the billowing smoke screen with game in its talons. The Stormcutter roared, momentarily taking my attention away from the other two dragons. However, its roar had also caught the attention of the Monstrous Nightmare.

Oh, gods.

* * *

Toothless

The moment I saw the Nightmare barreling towards us, I grabbed Hiccup and pulled him away from the area. He was caught off guard and stumbled, but I hoisted him back to his feet quick enough to keep us a good distance away from the newcomer.

"Wait! What about the Stormcutter!?" Hiccup cried.

I looked back at the dragon as it struggled to free itself from its bonds. I shook my head. "It can't move! Someone else will handle it!"

"But—!"

"Right now, that devil is the last of our problems!" I shouted. That piped him down.

I ran down the sloped land, constantly looking back in search of the Nightmare. It shot flames at us that missed by pure luck alone. I cursed and kept running.

I couldn't go at my fastest without leaving Hiccup behind by accident. He huffed and puffed behind me, and he was already working up a sweat. I couldn't slow down either.

My wrapped hand gave me a surprisingly strong grip on Hiccup, but I was clammy from sweat underneath the cloth. The raging dragon behind us was coming closer and closer.

Then the stupidest thing happened. I wasn't looking where I was going, and I tripped over something hard. It could have been anything from a rock to an abandoned weapon; I never found out. I hit the ground hard with Hiccup not too far behind me. He cried out as we tumbled the rest of the way down the slope. I cursed before looking behind myself

Big mistake number two.

The dragon was closing in on us. Fast. A fireball whizzed over us and hit a nearby pole, setting it alight. The impact was explosive, and the heat burned my face from where I laid.

I saw the dragon out of the corner of my eye. I scrambled to my knees, helping Hiccup along the way, but we'd lost too much ground. My heart rate thundered in my ears, and I couldn't understand a word of Hiccup's babble.

Just as the beast opened its maw to fill it with ignition gas, I did the best thing I could: I kept Hiccup behind me, in spite of his immediate protests, and I braced myself for the attack.

That attack never came.

I don't know where Dad came from, but hearing his war cry sent a wave of relief over me. My muscles eventually relaxed as Hiccup and I watched Dad take on the dragon. He'd barreled the beast over, throwing it across from him. It slid to a stop before it and Dad proceeded to circle one another. The Nightmare tried to spew more fire at him, but nothing came out.

Its shot limit had been reached.

"You're all out," Dad said darkly.

He took on the Nightmare without any weapons. He sailed a bone-shattering punch into the dragon's jaw, and a series of powerful thrusts and kicks sent it reeling. After a brief scuffle where Dad had the upper hand, the Nightmare roared. It spread out its wings and took off in the other direction. A retreat.

Around us, all the other dragons were retreating as well. I could spot hoards of dragons carrying away sheep and fish and other food. Livestock bleated and wailed helplessly as they were carried off.

Hiccup shifted under me, and I scrambled back onto my feet. Dad's thunderous glower never strayed from us.

 _That's not good_.

Before he could say anything though…Remember that pole I mentioned earlier? Well, the base had been eaten away enough to send the entire structure toppling. It crashed down into the lower docks, and its torch head rolled off after its first impact. It continued to bounce its way down into the port.

Hiccup flinched every time he heard a crash. I cringed.

 _That will probably need to be fixed later…_

Once the rolling stopped, things became eerily silent. Livestock in the distance let out some last-ditch bawls for help which would inevitably go unheard. It really sucked to be an animal right then.

After a moment, Hiccup broke the silence. "Sorry…Dad."

Small haddocks counted as animals, didn't they?

Dad's narrowed glare said it all. We were _so_ dead.

* * *

Yep _, yep, yep._

 _Monday tomorrow; update another day!_

 ** _—_ Tenchiko**


	3. Reprimand and Doubt

And I quote from Rapunzel: I am a despicable human being!

I told one of my reviewers that I'd be updating yesterday. Evidently, I am a liar. I really have no excuse. Forgivesies?

Review if you like it! (No really; don't be shy. Reviews make me happier than a dragon high on 'nip!)

* * *

Hiccup

We watched the dragons make off with their prize of the day. Hordes of food went with them as they soared over the burning village. They had clearly won this battle.

I could feel everyone's eyes on us. Disdain and annoyance thickened their glares and make my hairs stand. Toothless was quiet by my side, and I could feel myself getting ready to be yelled at. I shifted from foot to foot while Toothless remained perfectly still.

Dad didn't say a word. His radiating anger was burning into my skull which was more than enough to let me know he was not pleased.

"Okay but we got the Stormcutter," I said bluntly. Toothless face-palmed.

Then I was suddenly grabbed by the collar. Toothless was grabbed by the ear, and he had to bite back a surprised yelp.

"Daaad," I pleaded as we were dragged through the crowd that had gathered to watch. "This isn't like the last few times. This time we really got it! Toothless help me out here!"

"Yeaaah, Hic's serious, Dad." Toothless grunted as he tried to pry Dad's hands open. "It's not far from the woods if you want to see it. I mean—"

"STOP!" he shouted, effectively shutting us both up. We stood at attention before our very furious father. He took a deep breath before he continued, "Just…stop." He gave me a pointed look. "Every time you step outside, disaster happens. Can you not see that I have bigger problems? Winter is almost here, and I have an entire village to feed!"

I opened my mouth to make a smart-alecky and—probably—stupid comeback, but he then turned to Toothless.

"And you."

Toothless barely concealed a flinch. I took note of how Toothless clenched his fist upon being addressed. He could take lectures better than I, but the spark in his eyes told me exactly how he felt. He wasn't sorry.

"What were you _thinking_!?" Dad asked angrily. "I trust you to take care of your brother during these raids, and what do I see?" I scowled at that. I'm not an invalid! Toothless didn't even bother saying anything. "I know you like to goof off with him, but this is unacceptable! Of all the reckless, irresponsible—"

"Dad it's not his fault!" I finally said, stepping forward. "It was my idea; be mad at me."

"Hiccup," Toothless whispered warningly.

I ignored him and went on. "He was still keeping an eye on me like he's supposed to, I _promise_. I didn't mean to get us into trouble. I-I—"

"Enough!"

Aaand there went my speaking window. I bit back my words while Toothless gave me a sympathetic look. Dad's fiery eyes never left us.

"Get back to the house. Both of you." He looked around the crowd and asked loudly, "Where's Val?"

Mom pushed her way through the crowd, apologizing to a few whom she actually shoved to the ground. I felt horrible when I saw the look in her eyes. The fear in them melted away the moment she caught sight of us. Without hesitation, she ran up to us both.

"Boys!" She pulled us into a brief hug, before looking us over frantically. "Are you hurt? Either of you?"

"No, Mom," I said quickly. She had a nasty habit of panicking if we didn't answer fast enough.

Toothless also mumbled, "No," much to her relief.

"Val." Mom turned to look over to Dad, who was still giving us his signature scowl. "Make sure they get home. I have their mess to clean up."

Mom nodded even though he'd turned away by now. She led us both away towards the house, and we followed her like prisoners being sent to the execution grounds. A pretty accurate simile considering this was _Mom_ we were talking about. Gobber soon joined us, hitting me over the head.

"You were supposed to stay in the forge," Gobber said in a low voice so no one else would hear.

I shrugged. "Yeah…well…"

Then we'd walked past the other teens. I got looks that ranged from irritated to entertained at the expense of my dignity. The look of disapproval from Astrid probably stung the most.

"Quite the performance," Tuffnut said mockingly as his twin sister cackled at us. "Can't stay out of trouble even with your _babysitter_ nearby." Toothless growled in the back of his throat from behind me.

Snotlout was quick to jump in. "I've never seen anyone mess up that badly. That helped!"

"Thank you, thank you. I was trying…" I said bluntly before trudging away from them.

Glancing back, I watched as Snotlout went up to Toothless. All Toothless had to do was give him a glare, and Snotlout immediately closed his mouth. Toothless's eyes trailed over to the others, and none of them made any stupid comments to him. Lucky.

The walk home was silent, but Mom's irritation was palpable. She was just as upset at us as Dad was, but she had a very different definition of punishment compared to Dad's. Her method was more…private…and…guilt-trip provoking…

"I can't believe you boys," she finally said.

"Sorry, Mom," Toothless mumbled.

"You could have been killed. Do you have any idea how horrible that would be for your father and I?"

 _You? Sure. Dad? Not really_ , I thought darkly to myself. I had to bite back the comment while it was at the tip of my tongue. "We were just trying to get rid of that Stormcutter," I protested instead.

"You shouldn't have been outside at all!" She gave us both scathing glares before turning to lead us home again.

Toothless and I traded looks. An upset Mom was never a good thing. She would be fuming all day long, and we hated to have her mad at us. It was rare, but it happened enough times for Toothless and I to decide how much it sucked.

We'd probably be apologizing again later today.

After a beat of silence, I just had to point out one thing. "We really did get the Stormcutter though."

Gobber chuckled. "Sure you did," he said with a shake of his head. I scowled.

"No, Hic is telling the truth," Toothless argued. "It was attacking me, and he used his crazy new contraption to shoot it down with a bola."

"It's true!" I ran ahead of them as we got nearer to the area where the Stormcutter had been. "See, it's just over…" I trailed off when I witnessed the craziest sight. "…there…" It was nowhere to be seen.

Toothless caught up with me and looked just as dumbstruck as I felt. "What the…."

By this point, mom had caught up with us. The two of us, Toothless and I, were still looking at the dragon-less spot. There was no sign of it. No bola. No body. Not a hint of blood, dragon's or human's, was found anywhere. There was no way anyone could have killed it and dragged it off in such a short span of time. It was just too big!

Toothless and I exchanged dumbstruck looks.

"Hm. No dragon here," Gobber said bluntly.

Mom looked around anxiously, as though she almost expected the dragon to ambush us. Then she sighed and looked at us with sympathy. "Are you sure it was here?" she asked.

I nodded vigorously. "Yes."

"I could've _touched_ it, I was so close to it!" Toothless exclaimed.

Mom frowned at that, but she seemed to be at a loss over what to say to us. Then she finally sighed. "I'm sorry, boys." As she led us towards the house, she called back, "Come along, you two."

I sighed in defeat and followed. I almost didn't catch the frown Toothless was sporting.

* * *

Toothless

I probably should've been upset about the dragon disappearing, but I wasn't. The puzzle it left behind was far more frustrating. What had happened to that dragon? It couldn't have broken out of those ropes without leaving behind evidence. And it didn't lumber off, considering, once again, no evidence was available to back up that theory. No tracks, no broken trees, no nothing. That could only mean one thing…

Mom, Hiccup and I went inside our house, which stood over the village like a guardian and was the largest hut on the island. Mom made her way to our small kitchen while Hiccup and I climbed the stairs to the loft where we slept.

In hindsight, I probably should have asked Mom to check over my hands again. She was always fretting over that, and I know that giving her something to focus on would have helped her find some semblance of peace to start the day with. For her, if she already had something under control, then the hour wasn't a complete loss. She already had enough on her plate, and it wasn't even high noon yet. Hours of stress and lost time were no doubt ahead of her. But I didn't do so in favor of hiding out in the loft to gather my thoughts together.

Hiccup flopped onto his bed and whipped out his sketch book. He started doodling aimlessly while I sat on my own bed absently tugging on the wraps around my hands. Thinking hard, I was really not liking the idea that the dragon could still be out there.

"Boys?"

"Yeah?" Hiccup called.

"I need to head to the Great Halls for a clan meeting. Can you behave yourselves for a bit while I'm gone?"

I rolled my eyes. "The house will still be standing when you get back. I promise," I replied for the both of us.

"Good."

I waited until I heard the door close firmly shut. Then I sprung out of bed and fished a map out from our desk.

"What are you doing?" Hiccup asked.

I grabbed an extra dagger from under my blanket and looked up at him. "I'm going to look for that Stormcutter."

Hiccup gave me a bewildered look. " _What!?_ "

I ignored him while I grabbed my crossbow and checked it for tuning. "Hiccup, what do you think happened to that thing?" I got no answer, so I explained, "It had to have flown off. Maybe its back wings weren't wrapped up. It wasn't completely able to fly, most likely, but it could at least get away from the area. It couldn't have gone far in its condition."

"Wait wait wait! Y-you just told mom—"

"That the house would still be standing when she got back." I grinned at him. "I never said we would still be in it."

Though slack jawed at first, Hiccup soon broke into a grin of his own and jumped out of bed. "You're evil."

"I know."

And with that, we ran down the stairs and out the back door.


	4. Stormcutter Encounter

_Wanna hear the story of my life? Got slapped in the face with a white glove of homework, and I'm still trying to recover._

 _PLUS._

 _I am regularly walloped in the face with plot bunnies. Yep. Got a Christmas/Snoggletogg fic and a twelve+ chap RTTE fic stewing up here in this brain of mine. Lord help me._

 _So that's why I didn't update this as soon as I'd wanted to. Not that I wasn't working on this fic at all, mind you. I now have two more chapters in the works making a grand total of five unposted chapters that are somewhat completed._

 _Additionally, I wasn't completely happy with this chapter. I edited the crud out of it until I was satisfied. Plus this first scene you'll be stepping into is a completely edited in piece. Different POV, yes, but I think it adds to the plot in giving us a better grasp on where our characters stand. Either way, this chapter is a little longer than usual, so I hope that makes up for being two weeks late. I'm pretty happy with this chap. anyway. Have fun, and review if you like what you see!_

* * *

The meeting had just ended and the villagers who'd attended were going their separate ways. Men grumbled and women fretted as they all went to their homes to prepare themselves for the days to come. As the Great Hall was relieved of its occupants, the slight form of a woman moved about from table to table with practiced care. Valka cleared the tables, piling mugs and pouring out unfinished drinks as she brooded.

Another search. She didn't like the idea of her husband going out on another fool's errand to find the Nest. The others were right. Those ships never came back. Three hundred years of searching never brought their people any closer. Why should it be any different this time?

Valka knew better than to protest though. The minute a plan formed in Stoick's mind, it was there to stay, and she could do nothing to deter him. The boys picked up that little vice from him. Unfortunately. Not that she herself was any better, mind you.

Pigheadedness would be the death of the Haddock clan one of these days, she swore it.

Valka sighed.

"Val!"

Stoick waved her over from his seat next to Gobber. He looked rather miffed. Surprised, Valka set aside her work and went over to the pair.

"Something the matter?" she asked.

Gobber replied, "As a matter of fact—"

"Gobber thinks that we should enroll _Hiccup_ into Dragon Training," Stoick said with annoyance sharpening his tone. "Please, explain to this fool why that is a horrible idea."

Gobber muttered something about who the real fool of their trio was while Valka hummed thoughtfully.

"I don't see what the problem is," she said. Both men gawked at her as though she had sprouted wings and two heads. "What?"

Gobber blinked. "Never thought I'd see the day when pacifist Valka Haddock would agree to lettin' her son learn how to kill dragons."

Valka crossed her arms and arched a dainty brow at him. "I don't see why not. My youngest is already enrolled." Much to her displeasure.

"Ah, but Toothless is an entirely different case."

"Hold on; are you for or against enrolling Hiccup?"

"Ahhhhhhh…I—"

"Val, Gobber," Stoick finally said warningly. Valka shot one last look at Gobber before relenting.

"Really, what is the problem with Hiccup enrolling?" she asked.

In all honesty, she didn't want him signing up either. In fact, if it was up to her, neither of them would enroll. But she knew her boys too well. One was determined to protect his home while the other wanted to prove his ability to be self-sufficient. She couldn't stop either of them; she could only support them. Even if Valka didn't like it.

"What's the—Valka, this is Hiccup we're talking about. He'll be killed before the first dragon is let out of its cage."

She stiffened at the notion but refused to be deterred. "Oh you don't know that," Valka said.

"That's what I said," Gobber remarked.

Stoick either didn't pay attention or didn't acknowledge his best friend's commentary as he went on, "I do know that, actually."

"No, you don't," Gobber said while Valka nodded.

"No, actually I do."

"No, you don't."

"Yes, I do."

"Oh for the love of the gods!" Valka exclaimed. "How could you possibly know that!?"

Growling, Stoick stood up and irritably paced about. "Val, you know what he's like. From the time he could crawl, he's been…different. Not that Toothless is any better off—but at least he doesn't stand out like a sore thumb." Valka tried not to visibly bristle; Stoick didn't seem to notice. "He doesn't listen; he has the attention span of a sparrow; I take him fishing and he runs off searching for—for trolls!"

"Trolls exist!" Gobber objected.

Valka groaned. "Oh no, not this again."

This was exactly where Hiccup had gotten that idea in the first place. It had taken Valka two years to convince Hiccup that it was all a load of claptrap. The fact that he would conjure up so many "credible" arguments about the stealthiness of trolls hadn't made matters any easier for her. In all honesty, she was rather pleased with herself for that victory.

Now if only she could get that nonsense out of _Gobber's_ head.

"They steal your socks," Gobber went on, "but only the left ones. What's with that?"

Stoick payed Gobber's talk no mind. "When I was a boy—"

"Oh, here we go," Gobber grumbled.

"Not again," Valka muttered as she seated herself next to Gobber. Gobber made sure to give her plenty of elbow room. She reached across the table for an unclaimed mug and took a meager sip (sanitation was the least of her worries at the moment). She might as well get comfortable. This was going to take a while.

"My father told me to bang my head against a rock."

"Yes, I was five, and I still vividly remember that," Valka mumbled.

Which was very true. It had been quite a sight when she'd stumbled across the…demonstration that day. She could still recall jumping between wanting to laugh at the chief's son's expense and wanting to fret over the only "big kid" who gave her the time of day. It had been a rather precarious situation for her at the time.

"I thought it was crazy—"

"Which it was."

"—but I didn't question him. And you know what happened?"

"You got a headache," Val and Gobber said in unison. Gobber subtly lifted his mug and Valka clinked hers against his.

"That rock split in two."

Valka formed her hands to look like the outline of a rock and made a cracking sound as she "split" the rock. Gobber chuckled at her behavior. Hiccup had certainly picked up most of his personality from Val.

Stoick went on, "It taught me what a Viking could do. He could crush mountains, level forests, tame seas!" He finally seated himself next to his closest friends with a heavy sigh. "Even as a boy, I knew what I was, what I had to become…Hiccup is not that boy."

Valka sighed before standing up and putting her hands on his broad shoulders. She lightly rubbed the tense muscles under her fingers with tender love and care. "Oh, Stoick. As much as it pains me to say it, Hiccup won't be our baby boy forever. Life moves on whether we like it or not. One day he'll be all grown up and will have to face the world on his own.

"Toothless tries his best to protect Hiccup, and I know he always will, but…We both know that it isn't fair for Hiccup to be sheltered like this. He doesn't deserve to be kept hidden in a little forge while his own brother is advancing as a warrior with each passing day. He wants you to give him a chance to be independent, to be considered an equal to his brother in your eyes. That isn't too much to ask. So why won't you let him try?"

Stoick didn't give her an answer. Whether he had one at all was beyond Valka's comprehension. But she knew she'd hit a mark somewhere. She could see it in his eyes.

Gobber, who had been listening and nodding along the whole time, now chose this moment to add in his input. "Val's right, you know. You can't stop him; you can only prepare him. I know it seems hopeless, but Valka has a point. None of us will always be around to protect him. He's going to get out there again. In fact, with his and his brother's combined tenacity, they're probably out there now."

* * *

Hiccup

Toothless and I know the forest like the back of our hands. Whenever the kids were bullying me when I was younger, Toothless and I would hide out here until they forgot about me. Plus, Toothless would sometimes get violent with them after they took things too far. So hiding from wrathful parents was a must.

We'd play stupid games out here, and we'd harass the local Terrible Terrors that would bug us. This was always my safe haven and Toothless's element. I can't tell you how many times Toothless dragged me up a tree only to realize that I couldn't get down. I have the scars to prove it too.

And now we used that to our advantage to scope the forest for the Stormcutter.

"Where do you think we should meet?" Toothless asked me.

"How about the fort?"

"Is it still intact?"

I shrugged. "Haven't been there since we were kids."

"I was afraid of that." Toothless sighed but finally nodded. "Alright. First one to find the dragon gets to kill it."

I nodded. One part of me hoped to find it first; the other part didn't want to see the massive creature that haunted us as kids. _Stop that!_ I scolded myself. _You can't keep being afraid of it! If you don't stop, no one will take you seriously!_

With that in mind, I convinced myself that I'd go through with it. If I found it, I would kill it. Toothless would be able to do it, so I could too.

After we'd split up, I wandered through the woods for a while with my sketchbook in hand. I looked at the map I had drawn onto one of the pages, marking out the places where I didn't see the dragon. After several mishaps with unnoticed roots and low hanging branches, I was starting to get frustrated.

After a while, I vented my frustrations onto the paper and scribbled out most of the map. I groaned as I snapped my book shut.

"Ugh, the gods hate me," I mumbled as I trudged through the forest. "Some people loose their knife or mug. No, no, not me! I managed to lose an entire _dragon_!"

I swiped at a low hanging branch only for it to smack me right back. It got me in the eye; _sweet Freya_ that hurt! Tears welled in that eye as it tried to eject the foreign objects, and I had to depend on my other eye to avoid tripping over anything.

I looked down as I tried to blink my eye back into full clarity. Then I realized something interesting about the ground. Dirt had been kicked up, and I realized that the branch I had just swiped had once been a scraggily tree trunk. Fresh evidence too. I quickly followed after the trail of destruction until I made it to where it banked off. I crept over, until I caught sight of it. The Stormcutter. I gasped and hid from its sight.

Eventually I dared to peek up again. Yep. That was it. The dragon. I fumbled with the dagger hidden in my vest until it was firmly in my grasp. Before I stepped out in the open, I remembered that I had to call Toothless. So I let out a loud hawk-like sound, and it bounced off into the air. I was really hoping that he was close enough to hear it. Then I went in.

The Stormcutter was about as freaky looking as it had looked this morning. Its eyes were open and slitted. And it was staring at me. But it wasn't growling. That was a little odd.

I pointed my dagger at it but didn't make any sudden movements. I got closer, but then took a few steps back when I heard it let out a low moan. It was watching me intently. Every move I made, it followed.

"I'm…I'm gonna kill you dragon," I said to it. It just kept staring at me. "I'm gonna cut out your heart and take it to my father."

Its eyes bored into me in a way that sent chills crawling up my spine. My nerves were already running on double time, and my hands were clammy and cold. My breath hitched every time the dragon shifted or moved its eyes. Every blink sent chills running down my spine.

"I'm a viking…" I muttered to myself, trying to convince myself that I could to this. "I am a viking!" It was working like a bad pep talk from Gobber.

And the dragon. It seemed to…give up almost as it laid its head on the ground and closed its eyes. I lifted my dagger in the air, ready to plunge it into the dragon that had been terrorizing Toothless and I for the past six years.

My mind would flash back to every incident since I was nine. It would chase after us, shooting fire in our paths no matter how far we ran. I remember Mom screaming whenever it got too close, whenever it almost got us. I can hear her screams even now. Toothless wouldn't let me out of his sight for days after when we were smaller, fearing that the Stormcutter would find me if he wasn't nearby to protect me. Dad had tried to kill it several times, but it couldn't be taken down. It was too strong, too smart. I remember being afraid of it.

I still was.

But I couldn't do it. I don't even know when I'd let down my dagger, and my arms went limp. I looked at my dagger and looked at the dragon. It looked exhausted. I glanced at the ropes and saw that one set of its wings were indeed bound while the other set was free. But it's so massive, it needs both wings to support it for long-distance flights. It couldn't escape.

"I did this…" I muttered while backing up.

Looking back at its form, I realized it wouldn't last long while still bound. I could just leave it. I could get Toothless, and let him kill it. Put it out of its misery, you know? He wouldn't mind. But I also knew that Toothless wouldn't notice what I saw. He wouldn't see the frightened animal. He'd see the monster that has tried to carry off his brother in the past. Multiple times.

It wouldn't have a chance.

I sighed. _I'm going to do something stupid, aren't I?_ I gave it another glance and realized, _Yep. I am._

Soon enough I found myself using my dagger to cut its ropes. It took a while. The bola had been wound tightly around it. I made a mental note to be more careful about the force of the throw in relation to the distance of my intended target. Not that I expected to be using the Mangler again anytime soon.

Finally I cut through the last bit of rope, and they all fell away in a nice pile. Next thing I know, I'm on my back with the dragon standing over me. It had its front paws pressed down on my chest. I was gasping for breath as it looked down on me. Its massive form was standing over me with menacing yellow eyes looking down at me. This was probably the single most terrifying moment of my life.

Then something weird happened. It started smelling me. I was stock still as it pressed its nose in my hair and trailed down to my chest. Its eyes met mine, and I found myself looking straight into the eyes of the creature that was probably going to kill me in the next few seconds. But I wasn't scared. That was the insane part. It didn't feel like looking at a killer. It was like…looking at something more…human.

And then, the moment was broken as it let out a violent roar that nearly busted my eardrums.

And it ran off. Its double-paired wings spread open and it took to the air. I watched as it disappeared into the grey, cloudy sky; I was still dazed by my close encounter. I quickly released a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding. I tried to stand up, but my legs nearly gave out under me. So I slid back to the ground and let myself get swallowed by darkness.

* * *

 _I hope that read well. I hope I made it clear that there will be a few subtle differences in this AU to cannon material concerning characters. The most prominient one I hope you may well notice is why Hiccup a) tries to kill a dragon, and b) chooses not to do it in the end._

 _a) While public acceptance is still one reason, it isn't a huge one since he isn't quite as lonely because of Toothless's presence. Being left alone at the corner table of the cafeteria is less lonely when your friend comes to sit right there next to you._

 _No, the drive behind trying to "fit in" now derives from the factor of comparing himself to Toothless who, frankly, is better at "blending in" while still being the odd man out plus the fact that Hiccup is treated differently than Toothless by Stoick. As Valka said, Hiccup wants to be acknowledged as being just as independent as his brother despite being physically weaker and, by comparison, a much more prominent maverick._

 _b) While in cannon, Hiccup spares the downed dragon because he saw his fear reflected in Toothless's fear, in my universe, Hiccup does it because he sees the dragon give up. He himself most likely had moments of wanting to give up in being accepted, and Toothless would always help him get back up again. He finds himself, once again, being reflected in a dragon, thus seeing its humanity._

 _Now I know that some might say that I'm ruining the impact of that moment between Toothless and Hiccup in the films, but really, I am not trying to do that at all. I believe that fear is what begets every other negative emotion, and to find that particular emotion in Toothless at the same moment as Hiccup himself was feeling it strongly is the root of the connection because he not only sees the humanity in Toothless but he also can identify with Toothless on a more intimate level. To find a less prominent and, frankly, reversible emotion like_ the desire to give up _only gives him the sense of humanity but not the intimacy. To put it simply, it only ignites his compassion which then begets guilt._

 _Sorry if that was complicated. My brain just works that way._

 _I hope you didn't get bored to death reading this whopper of an author's note! Reviews make me smile so don't be shy :D_

 **— _Tenchiko_**


	5. Talking

_Update!_

* * *

Toothless

"Hiccup! Hiccup, wake up!"

I was trying to shake him back into consciousness. He wasn't waking up. I was freaking out.

I'd heard his call and came as fast as I could. I'd nearly tripped over his form when I'd found him. After finding the severed bola, I'd frantically checked him for injuries only to find none. With relief, I'd calmly tried to shake him away. After a while of trying, however, worry soon latched on and was holding on tight. Now I was trying to avoid panicking.

"C'mon," I muttered. "HIC! WAKE UP! NOW!"

If I had known that that would do the trick, I would have done that a _long_ time ago. His eyes flew open, and he bolted upright. He head-butted me so hard, I fell backwards and stars exploded in my sight. He, too, fell back with a cry of pain.

"Man, that hurt!" Hiccup exclaimed as he held his stinging forehead.

I couldn't quite stop the relief that flooded into me upon hearing his voice. "So worth it," I muttered back.

He shook his head like a wet dog, and started looking at me oddly. "How'd you get here so fast?" I quirked a brow at him. Then he looked around until he caught sight of the destroyed bola. "The Stormcutter!" he exclaimed as he sat up straight and looked around, eventually looking up at the sky. I'd already checked earlier, so I knew there was no sign of it anywhere.

I glanced at the bola with suspicion. "Yeah…it's…gone."

It took a moment for that to sink in. To my surprise, Hiccup let out a loud groan and fell back to the ground. He covered his face with his hands, ashamed.

"Oh, Toothless, I am so sorry."

A sinking feeling hit me hard. "You let it go," I concluded, dumbstruck.

He swallowed and nodded, still not looking up at me.

My mind raced. He let it go. What the Hel!? Of all the crazy things he'd done in the past, this had to be a new one. And this time…I didn't understand. What _possessed_ him to let it go? After all it's done to us!?

"Why?"

He shook his head. "Don't ask. Please."

The desperation in his voice was the only thing keeping me from demanding an answer. This was so…unlike Hiccup. This entire situation was. _What the Hel happened?_

I sighed. After getting up and brushing myself off, I turned to him and offered him a hand. "Time to get up, Hic."

He pulled his hands away from his face and finally looked at me. Well, he looked from my hand to me. I was relieved when he clasped his hand into mine.

We were still good.

With a strong grip, I pulled him back on his feet. His grip was stronger than most would believe, and he regained his balance before letting go. I sighed and shook my head at him.

"I'll find out what happened, mark my words, Hic," I said in a mock-scolding tone. He visibly deflated at my declaration. I smirked. "C'mon," I said as I lightly cuffed him over the head. "We should get home."

While rubbing the back of his head, Hiccup sighed and nodded. He turned his eyes to me and offered me a small smile. I grinned back at him in return.

* * *

Hiccup

When Toothless and I had gotten to the house, I was half expecting Mom and Dad to still be gone. So, naturally, I froze mid-step the moment I saw them. Mom was mending a shirt while Dad was poking at the embers of the fire. I quickly made the motion for Toothless to be quiet. He looked dubious, but didn't question me as he followed my lead. I crept up the stairs, hoping they would continue to not notice us.

Turns out the gods _really_ love to torment me.

"Hiccup," Dad said as I tried to hurriendly scale up the stairs.

"Dad," I said. I looked helplessly at Toothless then looked back at Dad as he was getting up from his place by the fire. I looked over to Mom and nodded in her direction. "Hey, Mom." Without a word, she had also gotten up and walked over to us.

I was trapped.

 _(Sigh) Better get this over with._ "I need to talk to you."

"I need to talk to you too, son."

I nodded and took in a deep breath. We spoke at the same time, causing our words to jumble together.

"I've decided—"

"Your mother and I—"

"—I don't want—"

"—think it's time you learn how—"

"—to fight dragons."

We looked at each other in confusion. "What?" we asked in unison.

"What?" Mom asked from behind Dad, sounding equally confused.

"What!?" Toothless exclaimed. I honestly have no idea which side he'd caught, but he was bewildered nevertheless.

"You go first," Dad told me.

"No…no you go first," I said uncertainly.

"Alright."

He wrung his hands together nervously and took in a deep breath. I was just waiting for it. Whatever was happening, it was going to be awful and was about to hit me hard; I was sure about that.

"You get your wish." I could feel my heart sink. "Dragon training. You start in the morning."

Yep. I'm screwed. "Oh man, I should've gone first; because…" I ran my hand through my hair as I tried to come up with some good excuse. I looked to Toothless for help but only caugt sight of his dumbstruck expression. Yep. No help there.

"I was thinking…" I began, "W-we have a surplus of dragon-fighting vikings, but do we have any…bread-making vikings? Or small home repair—"

"You'll need this," Dad continued on, _not_ listening to me, as he handed me a rather large axe.

I nearly toppled over from the sudden weight in my arms. "I don't want to fight dragons," I said nervously.

Toothless grabbed my arm to turn me in his direction. "What?"

"You don't?" Mom asked, sounding surprised.

I shook my head furiously, begging them both to help me get out of this. Dad only laughed it off.

"Oh sure you do."

"Let me rephrase," I said, "Dad, I _can't_ kill dragons." _Not after today…_ Toothless's eyes were burning into the back of my skull, but I refused to look at him.

"But you _will_ kill dragons."

"No, I'm very sure I won't," I said as I tried to balance the axe in my hand.

"It's time Hiccup," Dad went on.

"Can you not hear me!?"

"Stoick, maybe we should talk about this," Mom, may the gods bless her!, finally said. I looked to Dad with pleading eyes, hoping he'd listen to her.

"Val, we've talked about this already," Dad said, indirectly smashing my hopes into a million pieces at the same time. "We agreed that this was for the best."

"I know, but—"

"The boats are about to head out," Dad interrupted, cutting Mom off. He gave her a quick kiss before grabbing his things. He stood tall and looked over to me. "Dragon training. End of story. Deal?"

I spluttered out my last attempt at a protest. "Dad I—"

" _Deal_?" he asked, more sternly this time.

I sighed in defeat. "Yeah. Deal."

Satisfied, he nodded. "Train hard." He glanced over to Toothless. "Same for you." Toothless nodded. "I'll be back. Probably."

Mom frowned and gave him a swat on the arm. "There's no 'probably' about it. I expect you home with the rest of the party. All limbs intact, you hear?"

He merely chuckled before giving her another peck on the cheek.

 _It's almost like they'd forgotten that Toothless and I were still there!_ I did the absolutely immature thing and turned to Toothless to give him the "gag me" gesture with my finger. Though he rolled his eyes at me, Toothless was also wrinkling his nose at the sight. Mom only laughed at our reactions.

"Be safe, Stoick," she said to him while placing a hand on the side of his face.

"Always," he said enveloping his hands over hers.

 _Someone kill me already_ , I begged in my head.

"If you're gonna meet with the boats, I suggest you head out any day now," Toothless said bluntly.

Dad gave him a mock glare. "Watch it, son."

Toothless didn't have a chance to react before Dad was ruffling Toothless's hair. Toothless barked out a protest that fell on deaf ears. Dad chuckled at Toothless's expense. Then he placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Do well." I nodded as he turned to leave.

After the door closed shut, it was oddly quiet among the three of us. My brain felt like it was just bowled over by a Gronckle, and my world felt like it was just turned upside down. _Someone please tell me that that didn't just happen._

It was almost like Toothless had heard my thoughts and decided to give me my much needed reality check. "Did you just get signed up for dragon training?" he asked.

"Yep."

"Approved by Dad and everything?"

"Yep."

Toothless glanced around the house suspiciously. "…Are we even on the right island?"

If only that was the case…"…Yep." I hung my head and sighed in defeat. "I…I think I'll just head to bed early."

"It's not even evening," Mom said. "Are you sure?"

As I was about to climb up the stairs, I gave her a weak smile. "Yeah, I'm sure."

Mom was worried. She looked like she wanted to ask me about what just happened. I really didn't want to talk about it though. So I made a beeline up the stairs before she or Toothless could say a word. Thankfully, neither one of them moved to stop me.

Once I was upstairs, I trudged over to my bed, with my thoughts still all jumbled up. This was probably the craziest day in the history of crazy days. First the raid, then the Stormcutter, now _this_? I laid back on my bed and wanted nothing more than for this day to end already.

In despair, I grabbed my blanket sulk under.

It wasn't even past high noon yet.

Great.

* * *

 _Review! No seriously; don't be shy. (I can_ see _that I have 12 followers for this fic. According to the graph, my last chapter had 110 views, 92 visitors, and_ still no _one ever reviews regularly except for Mc Arno. Makes me kinda sad TT-TT.)_

 _Now If you excuse me, I shall go nuts and start reading the freshly updated Paradox (a Star Wars fanfiction)!_

 ** _—Tenchiko_**

 ** _Edit: Thank you guest reviewer for letting me know. (I double posted WTF) I am so embarrassed that I did that. I swear, I don't even know how that happened. A glitch maybe? Thanks for having the guts to tell me._**


	6. Illness and No Escape

_As usual, I edited the crap out of this, but I'm rather happy with it so it was totally worth all the work. :D_

 _Before we begin, can we take a moment to thank the Lord for guest reviewers. I swear, it's always the guest reviewers who show me mercy and point out where I messed up. I spelled x-word wrong, my lack of drive was very easy to see in the quality of scene Y, and the very recent, "hey, you double posted your last chapter by accident." Good golly that was embarrassing. But I fixed it!_

 _Really though. YOU THE REAL MVP! I would suck without your help! (tech can be my worst enemy at times, I swear) So thank you! Thank you for existing! (I now have trust issues with my copy/pasting skills, but whatever. I still appreciate you pointing that out for me.)_

 _First big plot point is being set off here. Have fun!_

* * *

Hiccup

When I'd woken up that morning, I just knew something was very wrong. It was in the air around me, and the pool of dread filling my gut was not doing anything for my nerves. I tried to dismiss it as my dread for the oncoming day. First day of undesired dragon training can do that to a person, you know?

But I had not thought that Toothless getting ill was going to be the first very wrong thing that would happen that day.

"How are you feeling?" I asked him as Mom spoke quietly to Gothi. He glared at me, probably compelled to punch me for asking such a stupid question.

"Crappy," he bit out dryly.

Okay, I'll admit that that was a stupid question. He really did look awful. He looked like he'd gotten waterlogged last night. He was sallow, and his hair was sopping wet! I put a hand on his forehead only to find it burning hot. He shivered under my touch which was definitely at a contrasting temperature in comparison to his skin.

Speaking of… His arms were covered with his…condition. It had been nothing but splotchy patches running over his hands and knuckles yesterday. But now, it ran up his arms with its pattern more decipherable this time. Scales. They looked like dark scales. I felt their texture which was like touching the scales of a dragon's skin. It was really disturbing.

His eyes were shadowed, and his glare made his entire face look bizarre. Like some kind of sleepy, angry dragon. Heh. Ironic.

(Okay, that was a terrible thing to joke about, I'll admit it.)

You know that saying that warns people about pissing off a dragon? You probably know this already, but I'm terrible at following rules.

I smirked at him and said, "Baby."

He narrowed his eyes, but a twitch of the lips let me know that he wouldn't kill me. Yet. "Fishbone."

"Bed head."

"Twig boy."

"Dragon teeth."

"Runt."

"Toothy."

"Shut. Up," he growled threateningly.

I was smart enough to stop right then and there. He sucked in a deep breath so suddenly, I was caught off guard. He sounded like a drowning man grasping for precious air before he could be submerged again. It was alarming.

Mom was immediately at Toothless's side pressing a hand on his forehead. "Toothless? Are you alright?" she asked. Without waiting for an answer, she helped him sit upright in hopes that he might breathe better that way. She saw him shiver and had another blanket over him quick as a flash. "There. Does that help any?" she asked. Toothless shrugged and shook his head slightly, not really up to answering verbally at the moment. Mom's lips pursed together as she swiped sweaty hair away from his face. "My poor boy."

I looked over to Gothi who was studying Toothless silently before she made more adjustments to her diagnosis in the dirt.

"What's wrong with him?" I asked.

The old woman gave me a dismal look before shaking her head. She gestured down to her runes. Mom quickly got up and, after sending me to stand by Toothless, walked over to read the runes herself.

She asked, "Are you certain?"

Gothi nodded. Grimly. Something leapt fearfully from my stomach up to my chest. My hand reached over to Toothless's own, lacing together with his. Toothless sighed but squeezed back reassuringly.

"Certain of what?" I asked.

Mom looked from the runes to Toothless and I. "She doesn't know. She says she has never seen symptoms like these before," Mom explained. "Please. There must be something you can do," Mom pleaded desperately. My hand's grip only tightened even more.

Gothi looked from Mom to me. She saw our blatant concern and sighed. She wrote a reply in the dirt. Based off of Mom's relieved smile, I comcluded that Gothi had probably said something between the lines of "I'll try."

Gothi gave Mom some medicinal herbs to try out. As soon as Gothi had left, Mom was boiling them into tea, and Toothless complained that he could smell them from his place in bed. I had to admit the smell was wafting over to me too. It was strong, and it had a sharp mildewy stench to it.

Toothless then suddenly said, "You need to head out."

I stiffened and gave him an incredulous look. "What? Why?"

He coughed before rolling his eyes at me. "Training." He gave me a light shove. "You still need to go, scatterbrain."

 _I what!?_ I didn't know whether to be shocked or angry that he'd even suggest that. What if he got worse? What if he needed my help!? That's how we'd always done it. If Dad was out on a hunt, Mom was in charge of the village. If one of us was sick, we'd look after each other so Mom could do her job. I couldn't just leave!

Especially not to go to Dragon Training.

"I'm staying."

Toothless seemed surprised at first. Then he scowled too and gave me a light shove. "You have to."

"Make me," I challenged before seating myself on my own bed. I crossed my arms, daring him to do something about it. Looking back, I'll admit that that was a little unfair. He wasn't in the best shape so it wasn't like he could toss me over his shoulder and carry me to the arena like he could have on other days. At the moment though, I was using that obstacle to my advantage.

Before he could force out a retort, Mom came upstairs to give him that disgusting-smelling tea. I refused to look away from him while Mom came to his side with a mug in hand. That stuff smelled worse up close. I had to fight the urge to wrinkle my nose in disgust.

"This will help you breathe better," Mom explained as she held the cup up to Toothless's mouth.

He clearly didn't want to drink it. But the desire to breathe easier again came before his outright disgust. He tipped his head back and tried to swallow the mug's contents carefully. He gagged a few times but forced it down. I couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

Finally, he managed to swallow it all. As he took in a deep breath, I could practically hear his airways clear up.

With that out of the way, he shot me a scathing look. "Training," he breathed out. "Go. Now."

I crossed my arms and gave him a stubborn glower. "How many times do I have to tell you _no_?"

Mom was apparently on Toothless's side because she said, "Hiccup, perhaps it would be best if you went."

I looked to her with an expression of utter betrayal. "You've got to be joking. I'm not leaving while Toothless is like this!"

"Hic—" Toothless began.

"No, I'm serious!"

"Hiccup," Mom said sharply. She motioned for me to follow her. I looked over to Toothless who was giving me a smug _I win_ look. I gave him a dirty look right back before I followed after Mom.

She walked me over to the middle of the main room and sat me down. Oh great, I thought. Time for a lecture. I silently braced myself for the long speech I was expecting.

"I think would be best if you go to training, like we'd planned."

 _Here we go_ "But—"

"Toothless won't get better just because you're nearby."

"That's not—"

"Hiccup." She sighed. "I don't want word of this getting around. Did you see those scales?"

I faltered in my words. "W-well yeah, but—"

"We come from a line of superstitious people, Hiccup. If anyone tries to visit and they see those scales, can you imagine what they may think?"

That struck a cord in me. I thought back to the sight of those scales. Hadn't I just thought about how disturbing that was to look at? What would other people in the village have say about it? Oh I could imagine. A sign or a bad omen, they may call it. A curse from the gods. I don't believe the gods would curse Toothless; Toothless never did anything that could warrant a curse or omen or whatever to be put on him. But my opinion wouldn't matter to any of the villagers.

I looked up towards the loft, wondering if Toothless could hear us. Were these thoughts also running through his mind? I could imagine they were.

I'd nearly missed it when Mom continued on.

"I need you to go to class as planned. If you do, it will be less concerning when I explain that Toothless isn't feeling well. Do you understand?"

I didn't answer for a long time. For a moment I was compelled to refuse to go, if only so I wouldn't have to go at all. But that would be selfish. I could never do that to Toothless.

"Okay," I finally said. "Okay….Just…let me know if anything happens. Please?"

Mom smiled in relief. "I promise, darling," she said.

* * *

"Welcome to Dragon Training!" Gobber declared after he opened the gates and led the recruits, myself included, into the arena.

It was a desolate place that reeked of dragon s's blood and the stench of desperation emitted from past recruits. Scorch marks and body prints stained the concrete walls, and the chains that enclosed the arena made me feel like I was a caged bird. I couldn't get out of this one.

The other teens were already making their way inside while I stayed back. Mom was already heading back to the house, going to check on Toothless. Gods, I'd trade places with Toothless in a heartbeat. If only it wasn't for all the wrong reasons.

I mentally berated myself. _C'mon, Hiccup,_ I growled at myself, _Just go on and get it over with!_

I walked in hearing the other teens talking about the scars and burns they were hoping to earn, as though getting hurt was some sort of badge of honor. I knew from experience that it really wasn't. Getting hurt was just that: painful.

Astrid agreed with some comment Ruffnut had said. "Yeah. It's only fun if you get a scar out of it."

"Yeah no kidding, right?" I said thoughtlessly, getting the attention of all the other teens. "Pain. Love it."

"Oh great," Tuffnut said as I walked over to them, "who let _him_ in?"

"Alright! Let's get started," Gobber announced. "The recruit who does best, will win the honor of killing his first dragon in front of the whole village." I flinched when he'd mentioned the killing part. I might as well just open a cage and let a bloodthirsty dragon eat me. Or, even better, drop out right now.

"Hiccup already killed a Stormcutter," Snotlout said, "so does that disqualify him or…" A smirk crawled onto his face as the Thorstons laughed at his little joke. My face burned up, and I just wanted to sink into the floor. _Why oh why did you have to get sick_ today _, Toothless!?_

"Where's the cool Haddock anyway?" Tuffnut asked.

I opened my mouth to explain, but Gobber beat me to it. "Toothless isn't feeling up to par today," he explained. "Probably got some eel slipped into his soup last night." He shot a glare at the twins who immediately protested.

"Hey! We didn't do it!"

"Yeah, if we wanted to poison him, I'd just have him kiss Ruff!"

Before I could blink, Tuffnut was rolling on the ground as Ruffnut scrambled to overpower him. She punched him in the face repeatedly. I couldn't help but cringe on his behalf. Once satisfied, she got up and got back in line, muttering "ratfink" under her breath. I wondered wether anyone would help Tuffnut up, but I didn't say anything.

Gobber rolled his eyes. "Anyway. He'll be alright by tomorrow. Probably."

I tightened my grip on my axe. Alright by tomorrow? I tried not to shrink as the thought mulled around in my head. _Toothless didn't look well at all this morning. It'll take more than a day for him to get better._

 _If he even does get better_.

I immediately shoved that thought out of my head. _Probably paranoia setting in,_ I told myself, _That's all. Right?_

I barely realized that Gobber had proceeded to move on to today's lesson. I had to run over to the line of other recuits while trying to listen to him.

"Behind these doors are some of the many species you will learn to fight," he said as he patted the large bar that kept the animals inside. The dragons were shaking the doors and bellowing from the inside. It was giving me the creeps to watch the doors rattle.

My mind imagined the dragons breaking out as Gobber proceeded to name each one that was hiding behind the doors.

"The Deadly Nadder."

I could remember seeing Nadders attacking at the raid the other day. To my right, Fishlegs was muttering dragon fact that did little to hinder my imagination.

"Speed eight, armor sixteen."

Their spines shooting into the backs of unsuspecting victims was a very vivid image at the moment. Impalement wasn't common, but I could imagine a spike through someone's head being not only possible but also very graphic.

"The Hideous Zippleback."

The Zippleback that exploded the hidden food storage flashed in my mind. One of those guys alone could be more destructive than a horde of Nightmares if they put their minds to it.

"Plus eleven stealth times two."

Gobber looked irritated from Fishlegs's yammering, but he still went on. "The Monstrous Nightmare."

"Firepower fifteen!"

Okay I had to agree. Fishlegs's babbling was getting to me. Not that I'd ever do anything about it.

"The Terrible Terror."

I had to admit, Terrors weren't that bad. Toothless and I would chase them around the forest as kids, and none of them would really attack us back. Most of the time. In packs, they were the devil.

And, predictably, Fishlegs had something to say about the Terrors too. "Attack eight, venom twelve."

"Would you stop that!?" Gobber finally shouted at Fishlegs. That shut him up fast. Once satisfied, Gobber finished, placing his hand on a lever, "And the Gronckle."

I really should've seen it coming, but Fishlegs not-so-subtly leaned towards me and whispered, "Jaw strength eight."

I sighed. Man, I missed Toothless.

I looked over at Gobber whose hand was on the lever. Looking at what the lever opened, I was suddenly smacked with a realization that Snotlout voiced at the exact moment.

"Woah! Wait! Aren't you gonna teach us first?"

Gobber gave Snotlout a far too pleased smile before saying, "I believe on learning on the job."

 _No kidding_ , I thought to myself as I watched him pull the lever. I had scars from cuts and burns all over my hands and arms to prove just how much he loved that teaching technique. Oh gods. The door opened and an angry Gronckle exploded out.

 _Here we go._

I along with the other teens quickly scattered.

* * *

Toothless

Breathe in. Breathe out. It should be that simple; in fact, it usually was. That day, though, it isn't. Frankly, I felt like someone was strangling me. My chest felt like there was a fire burning inside, stealing all my air and making my exhaled breaths abnormally warm. Laying flat on my back didn't help, and sitting up made it worse.

My hearing was still as horribly messed up as it was this morning. It was like I was submerged in deep waters, and I could hear the blood rushing in my ears. Every footstep, every breeze, every rustle of fabric, and every creak was suddenly distinct to me. It was maddening. I'd done everything I could think of to stifle it. Nothing was working.

I fingered the fabric hiding most of my skin. The flesh underneath felt like it was moving. It was practically crawling and every movement made a detached sensation spread over the area in ripples. I couldn't stand the feeling. Earlier, I had tried to scratch the skin until I drew blood, but I could barely dent the leathery hide that built itself up over my arms. The fact that this hide was my skin left me feeling unsettled.

Suddenly, a piercing sound broke out. I cringed upon hearing it. However, once it started, it only got louder. I hissed in pain and my breath shook as the noise rose in volume.

* * *

Hiccup

After finally getting ahold of my shield, I went with the others as Gobber instructed us to bang on our shields to confuse the dragon. The Gronckle shook its head and faltered in its flight. Huh. The banging really does work.

So far only me, Fishlegs, Snotlout, and (not surprisingly) Astrid were still standing in the Arena. The twins had gotten themselves ousted earlier while fighting over something. I think their bickering was over a shield, but I wasn't really paying attention.

"Every dragon has a shot limit," Gobber explained from his place on the sidelines. "How many does a Gronckle have?"

I heard Snotlout voice his guess. "Five?"

"No! Six!" Fishlegs said.

"Correct! One for each of you."

How was that supposed to be a good thing!? I feel like Gobber just finds _joy_ in torturing the teenagers of Berk. I just happened to have been currently among them at the wrong time in life.

While the Gronckle was going in the other direction for Fishlegs, I dove for the safety of a pile of crates that were located near the sidelines. This entire situation was turning into pure chaos.

* * *

Toothless

The noise was killing me. It was making me restless. I felt the need to get up, get away from whatever was making that noise.

I tried to drag myself out of bed only to gasp from a shooting pain that pierced my chest. I collapsed on the floor with a heavy _thunk._ Mom ran up the stairs and was at my side before I even noticed her presence.

"Toothless?" Her voice was drowning in worry. "Are you alright, sweetheart?" I wanted to reassure her, but I realy couldn't waste precious air wheezing out a few lies.

Her arms, which were wrapped around me, were stifling. It was like being contained in a sack that was suffocating me. I knew that that wasn't her intention, but, frankly, that's what it felt like. I was dying in the containment.

Her hands brushed my arms. It made my skin crawl. Even worse, a sudden flash of pain shot up my arms. I cried out in pain. Mom's hands jerked back, and she gasped. Looking down I realized what she was gaping at. The scales were spreading.

It made me feel even worse.

* * *

Hiccup

I watched from my hiding place as Fishlegs got outed and ran off screaming. I felt bad for him. It wasn't his fault he wasn't really the fighting type.

Honestly though, I was pretty shocked that I was still not out yet. Then again, hiding far away from the crazy dragon was _probably_ a huge factor to my survival.

"Hiccup, get in there!" Gobber yelled at me.

I swallowed and crept out of my hiding place. I'd barely gotten out when I was shot at by the Gronckle. Bubbling lava slattered about, nearly burning me. Well, that was enough to scare me in the other direction.

From across the Arena, I could hear Snotlout trying to flirt with Astrid.

"So I'm moving into my parents's basement. You should come by sometime. You look like you work out."

Astrid was having none of that, and she was keeping her focus on the dragon in front of her. The Gronckle spit out another burning fireball in Astrid's direction. She quickly dodged out of the way. Snotlout wasn't so lucky. He was out.

Much to my surprise, Astrid had wound up rolling her way in my direction. She stood right next to me, so close I could hear her quick breaths. I glanced at her, in awe of how level headed she could remain in the face of a dragon. Calm, cool, and collected. Gods, she was amazing.

I could feel the blood rushing up to my face from just looking at her.

 _Say something, idiot!_ "So I guess it's just you and me now."

"No, just you," she replied bluntly before ducking in the other direction.

I was a little confused for a moment there before I realized what she meant. My shield was knocked out of my grip when another slug of lava shoots through the air. Shoot! I scrambled to grab up my shield, but it's rolling away faster than I could keep up.

I was knocked off my feet when the Gronckle lunged at me. Suddenly I was pinned.

* * *

Toothless

It was getting worse. My head was dizzy, but the need to get away was only stronger now. Mom didn't have any idea what's going on, but she refused to leave my side. Not a good thing.

Suddenly, I just couldn't take it any longer.

I scrambled to untangle myself from her embrace, stumbling to my feet and nearly collapsing.

"Toothless!" Mom exclaimed.

I didn't even try to answer her, before I went running down the stairs. Maybe it was my fever going haywire, but I just couldn't ignore the impulse that seemed to take over my senses.

It was like a voice was in my head screaming, _Get away get away get away!_

I just couldn't ignore it, no matter how hard I tried. The best thing I could think of doing was doing as it said. So I did.

I don't fully remember bursting out the back door, but I soon found myself heading straight towards the woods. I could hear Mom shouting. She was pleading for me to come back, but I couldn't bring myself to stop. It hurt too much. Running in this direction was making it hurt less. What else could I do?

I stumbled and tripped multiple times on the way. Every noise in the forest, from the twittering birds to the chirping insects, was blaring in my ears. But the high-pitched noise was getting quieter at least.

I screamed out my frustration as I tried to get away. I didn't notice the sound of my own scream. Later I would. It didn't sound human

I don't know how long I'd been running before I fell. I tumbled down a slope that I hadn't been able to notice before. I could feel my body getting banged up, but it was like there was some sort of padding covering my body. It didn't hurt nearly as much as it should have.

* * *

Hiccup

The Gronckle opened its maw as bubbling hot lava built up in the back of its mouth.

* * *

Toothless

I cried out against the pain and screamed as the power inside me became too strong.

* * *

Hiccup

I could feel the heat as the fire was building up

* * *

Toothless

It felt like something was trying to claw its way out of me

* * *

Hiccup

It was finally gonna let go. In that moment I was waiting for my fate.

* * *

Hiccup and Toothless

There was no escape.

* * *

 _I'm really excited about writing the next few chapters. Like, super duper excited._

 _For the record,_ ratfink _is an actual word that I found in the thesaurus. Heh heh *nervous* I found it under_ bastard _. It sounded like something one of the twins would say though so I used it! :D_

 ** _—Tenchiko_**


	7. Something Very Wrong

_...I really need to just_ stop _telling people when I plan to upload new chapters. It's like I'm jinxed every time I do so. *sighs* whatever. So. New update! (A day late...) Yay!_

 _I really have no good excuse. I procrastinated because I was debating over the cut off (and I was feeling laaaaaazy), and then my little sister couldn't get the internet to work, so I turned my computer's internet off for her. After she was done watching stuff on Netflix, I couldn't seem to get connected anymore. So I blew off my entire Sunday night watching Riders of Berk. #responsibleismymiddlename_

 _R &R (Read & Relax!)_

* * *

Hiccup

The explosion above my head nearly took out my hearing. I curled into a ball as hot flames fell around me. Sparks of fire bit at my clothes, and I hissed from the pain. Then I realized…

How was I not dead?

I tentatively peaked around and caught sight of Gobber pulling the Gronckle away from me. It bucked and screeched from the abuse, but Gobber was undeterred.

"And that's six. Go back to bed you overgrown sausage!" he growled before thrusting it into its cage. He locked the door closed and shook his head. "You'll get another chance; don't you worry." Then he turned to the rest of the recruits. "Remember. A dragon will always"—he bent down to me giving me a warning glare—" _always_ go for the kill."

I swallowed thickly before Gobber grabbed me by the arm to drag me up. My legs were unsteady from the adrenaline that was still coursing through me. I glanced back at the door, half expecting the dragon to bust out and continue its rampage. When it didn't, I allowed myself to mull over Gobber's words.

 _Always?_

The Stormcutter flashed in my mind for a brief moment. I shook my head, but the thought wouldn't quite leave me.

 _Always?_

* * *

After we were dismissed for the day, I tried to get away before the others could poke fun at me.

"Hey, Useless, where do you think you're going?"

Not fast enough. Great.

I quickly broke into a run. Didn't even check if Snotlout or anyone else was chasing after me. I just kept going. I'm not as fast as Toothless, sure, but I picked up quite a bit from racing with him for fun. I was quick enough to get pretty close to beating him when I wanted. Just don't give me a bumpy terrain, please.

The minute I made it to the plaza, I was already tired. Breathing heavily, I checked behind me for any pursuers. Nope. All clear! I flitted along the outskirts where I could go relatively unnoticed behind the shadows of buildings. No, I wasn't being paranoid.

…

…

…

Shut up.

I eventually made it to the top of the hill to my house. I went right in, and I ran up the stairs.

"Toothless?" I called as I hurried up the stairs. "Oh man, you wouldn't believe the day I've had. I mean I…" I trailed off as I came across the craziest sight. Toothless's bed was empty.

Suddenly, the room felt a whole lot colder.

Something was very wrong.

"Mom?" I called. There was no answer. "Mom, are you here?" I checked downstairs. Mom wasn't there either. I checked around for a note or something telling me where she and Toothless were. There was none.

"Okay, Hiccup," I said aloud. "Don't freak out. They're probably just…seeing Gothi…without telling me…" _Even though Mom promised to keep me updated?_ No. That didn't seem like Mom at all.

I checked the back of the house. Once again, zip. Mom's room. Nope. The kitchen? Nada. Really, there wasn't any place in this house where they could have gone into without hearing me enter the front door.

Maybe they really did go out? I went over to the back door—it was closest—and put my hand on the knob. That's when I saw it. Well, to be more precise, I _felt_ it. The door knob felt jagged; that wasn't normal. I looked down at the doorknob as I let go of it. There were…scratches on it. Like some animal had been scrabbling to wrench the door open from the inside.

Something was very, very wrong here.

I opened the door and looked out to the forest. It wasn't evening yet, but the thick dark clouds hanging over the sky made it seem darker out. Foreboding. I looked at the forest and swallowed back my anxiety. Without really thinking it through, I went out into the forest.

* * *

It wasn't long before I ran into Mom. And when I say ran into Mom, I literally mean _I ran into her_. I wasn't even expecting it when she burst out of a cluster of tall grass and slammed into me.

Unlike her soft appearance, Mom was just as sturdy as any other Viking on the island. She could take down a man twice her size, and she could hold her liquor just as well as one. Pure muscle layered her slight form, and the impact with my hopelessly feeble frame was more than enough to send me to the ground.

Or at least it would have if she hadn't caught me.

"Hiccup!" she exclaimed.

I nonchalantly held up a hand in greeting. "Hey, Mom."

"What are you doing out here?"

"Well, you know. No one was at the house so I decided it was a nice day to take an aimless stroll in the woods before it rained, and now I'm here in your arms for no apparent reason whatsoever."

Mom quickly got the hint. She immediately let me stand on my own, brushing me off hurriedly. "Sorry about that," she said while she glanced around worriedly.

"So," I began. "Why weren't you at the house? And where's Toothless?"

Mom didn't answer immediately. A clenched hand rested over her chest as a frown marred her face. There was that very wrong feeling again.

"Mom?"

"Toothless is missing."

" _What_!?"

She explained everything to me. Apparently, Toothless had been acting really weird earlier. Then he just got up and ran out of the house! After Toothless had run off, Mom had gone after him. Naturally. She'd been out there all day looking for him, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"Wh-Well where could he have gone?" I asked.

"I don't know." Mom bit the bottom of her lip while her eyes were stormy with conflict. "I'm going back into town to organize a search party."

"What!? Why?" Okay stupid question, but earlier she'd said—

"Hiccup, it's been too long. It's going to rain—" She made a sharp gesture to the sky. "—And I can't let him get himself hurt."

"Let me look for him first." I don't even know why that came out. But now that it was out in the open, it took a firm hold in my mind. If anyone could find Toothless, it would be me. "W-we can't let them see his arms. I know I can find him if you'll just give me time. Please."

Mom looked like she was going to tell me no. She opened her mouth. But then she closed it. The conflict was tangible, and I was praying to the gods that she'd see it my way.

"You have until the first drop of rain," she said sternly. "Then I'll get together a group to look for him before it can start pouring. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am."

The countdown was on. I ran. Suddenly, the gray skies were all I could think of. They loomed over me as I looked for any sign of Toothless. The clouds taunted me, telling me that I wouldn't find him in time. He wasn't doing well. He could be hurt. Its taunts only made me press on harder.

The terrain was vaguely familiar. I started doing some quick calculations in my mind. I wasn't far from the tree fort. I was pretty deep into the forest already. How much ground could Mom have covered on her own? Where in the woods did she look exactly? I should have asked her these things earlier now that I was thinking about it.

But either way, Toothless couldn't have climbed all the way up to the fort in the state he was in. Right? But he could still go near the area for a refuge.

To the fort then!

I almost didn't notice the bola. I nearly tripped over it, but I managed to catch myself before I could hit the ground. Looking down at it, I recognized the bola as the one that I'd caught the Stormcutter in.

 _The Stormcutter that didn't kill me when it should have…_

 _Gah! C'mon, Hiccup! Now's not the time!_

"TOOTHLESS?" I shouted loudly. "BUD, WHERE ARE YOU?"

That's when I'd heard a noise. It sent a chill up my spine. The…noise…it sounded like an animal. But at the same time it didn't.

Intuition told me to go towards the noise. So I did just that. I heard the shriek again. Yes, it sounded like a shriek. In fact, it sounded like two voices. They were garbled together and screamed out in perfect unison. I knew that if it was any other situation, the best thing to do would be to run in the other direction. It was very possible that the sources of the sounds were dragons. With only one horrible day's worth of lessons, I wouldn't have been able to do anything against one dragon let alone two. The smartest thing for me would be to get away from the area before anything caught a hint of my scent.

Looking back now, I almost wish I'd followed that initial judgement. Almost.

Instead, I just kept on going. I ran into a cove. That's where the sounds were the loudest. Looking around, I soon found a hole that I could climb through to get down to the inside. So that's just what I did. I stumbled along the way, but eventually, I managed to creep down to the bottom of the cove. Before they'd cut out, the sounds had drawn me to a dark corner of the cove where a indistinct form was now hiding in a dark corner.

That very wrong feeling was telling me that this was its source. Against all reasoning, I went towards it. My steps were slow and selective, so I noticed immediately when I stepped on something odd. Looking down, my heart stopped at the object under my foot. A dagger. It was Toothless's dagger. I should know; I was the one who made it for him.

"Toothless…" I muttered, as the very wrong feeling nagged at me. It clung to the back of my mind and made my stomach flop about like a helpless boat trapped in a storm. What was going on?

I picked it up and looked at the silhouette that was thrashing violently. It was in a frenzy as it kept squawking and hissing loudly. I barely moved a step when it swung its body in my direction. I just stood there and stared at it. The sight of its sleek black form froze me in place. I took in its slitted, piercing green eyes which sent my heart leaping up to my throat. Those eyes stared back at me, barely registering me as much as I was barely registering its appearance in front of me. They seared into my soul, and my heart spluttered in fright.

Toothless's dagger slipped out of my hands and landed on the ground with a muffled thunk.

* * *

 _Okay, I'll admit that not much happens here. This is a kind of set-stuff-up chapter. I like how this cuts off though. #pacingpriorities #thepoweroftheauthor #tenchikoRULEZ_

 _#votingtomorrow #prayforthenation (please!) #obiwankenobiforpresident #jediforever_

 ** _— Tenchiko_**


	8. A Dragon With Fear

_You know one thing I enjoy about writing this story? I am learning so much about writing! Writing used to be so hard because I never felt like I was making any progress, but by the time I have these chapters set up for posting, I feel like I have learned so much and covered so much ground. it makes me so happy. Who cares if this chapter is shorter than the others? I feel so happy and accomplished about it! :D_

 _Read and Relax!_

* * *

Hiccup

 _It's a dragon!_

I snapped out of my petrified state. I couldn't quite stifle a scream as I started backing away quickly. By now, my mind was telling me that _yes_ , oh my gods, yes, there was indeed _a dragon_ standing in front of me! I'd never seen anything like it before, but that didn't stop common sense from screaming at me to _get away from it!_

My sudden movement was more than enough to snap it out of its own frozen state. I was expecting it to pounce on me with its talons splayed and teeth flashing. I expected to be feeling its mass weighing down on me and my body being ripped to shreds. I certainly wasn't expecting it to back away from me as well. While my heart was pounding, my back slammed against the wall of earth when it also clumsily rammed into the nearby rocks.

Time was completely still as we stared at one another. I didn't dare move, and it watched me with frightened eyes. _Wait…frightened?_ Then, it moaned. Well, not exactly. It wasn't really a moan, but it wasn't quite a roar either. Something in between maybe? In all honesty, I'd never heard such a sound come out of a dragon's mouth nor have I ever heard it again since. It did it again, and a series of clicks and chuffs followed.

I looked around the cove, almost hoping for an escape nearby aside from the one hole I had found earlier. There was no other way out of here, and the hole was right in the path of the dragon. Toothless's dagger was a few feet in front of me, but I couldn't get to it without the dragon noticing.

Thunder rumbled overhead reminding me that rain was still inevitable. Maybe that wasn't a bad thing. Fire and rain don't mix, right? How much better a chance would I have of surviving if the dragon couldn't flame me?

The frigid air was clinging to me with a vice-like grip, and I was trying to figure out whether my shaking was from the nip of the air or the fear of the danger in front of me. Even as my body slid to the ground without my permission, my eyes never left the dragon that stood a few feet away from me. My shaking didn't stop even when I'd started holding my arms with a white-knuckled grip.

Even as my fear visibly ripped through me, the dragon didn't…do anything. It would chuff in my direction and paw at the ground a few times, sure. There were a few moments when it tried to approach me only to quickly back away. However, it never did anything…normal. You know what I mean? It didn't attack. It didn't roar in my face. It didn't even try to fly away.

Its eyes scanned our surroundings; it was looking for something, I realized as my curiosity started drowning out my fear. I watched curiously as its eyes swept over the ground until it caught sight of the dagger. I sucked in a sharp breath as it got closer to the weapon. Then the dragon attempted to pick it up in its mouth. Doing so wasn't easy. The dragon growled in frustration a few times, but it eventually got the weapon securely in its mouth.

 _There goes my only defense,_ I thought. At this point, I had conveniently forgotten that I had another dagger stashed in my belt. In my defense, watching a monster observe you as though you were some defenseless fish flailing vulnerably in a puddle is mentally draining. I'm certain I'm not the first person to do something so stupid.

With the dagger in its mouth, the dragon did the most surprising thing. It walked up to me and dropped the dagger onto my lap. I'd initially flinched away from the item when it landed so suddenly on my lap. However, the saliva-coated weapon laid there innocently on my lap.

I looked back up at the dragon, and it stared back at me. Hesitantly, it nudged me. I stiffened at the touch. It made some crooning noise and backed off hurriedly.

That…was a little surprising. It made that not-quite-moaning sound again. Then it walked up to me again. Nudged the dagger; nudged me. And it backed off again. With shaky fingers, I picked up the dagger. I fingered it's curved blade and looked at the engraving I'd applied to it.

 _To the warden I call my brother on his fifteenth birthday._

I'd given this dagger to him a few months back. I'd been pretty proud of how well it had turned out; it wasn't every day that I'd come up with something that successfully did its job. Toothless had loved it; he especially got a kick out of me acknowledging his "unofficial job." After he'd received it, he'd promised to wear it proudly for the rest of his life. An overly-dramatic statement? Maybe. But he and I were always being a _little_ over the top. Nothing new there.

Looking at the dagger now, I realized…Where was Toothless? He'd never lose his weaponry, whether it was his dagger or his crossbow. Sure, he wasn't doing well, but that was no excuse! I knew Toothless too well to believe he'd do something so irresponsible.

I looked around the cove for any sign of him, ignoring the dragon in favor of my new priority. I scanned every shadow and tried to see any tracks in any of the patches of dirt splotching the otherwise grassy terrain. Then I saw something that threw me off. Fabric?

"What is that?" I wondered aloud.

The dragon seemed to have noticed what I was looking at, and in one swift motion, it swooped over to the pile of fabrics with a sort of fluid grace that suggested that it was capable of being an efficient ground hunter when not flying. Not so great for me, if I was being honest with myself.

If it was possible, I'd fallen back a little further when it's lithe form appeared in front of me. Before I could process it, a pile of fabric was dropped onto my lap. I slowly roved my eyes over the tattered fabric, and I swallowed. My mind flashed back to earlier that morning. Toothless had been wearing a gray tunic.

My hands shook when I picked up the fabric whose color was a perfect match of Toothless's shirt.

The dragon made that odd noise again. I looked up at it; and this time I _really_ looked at it. It's bright green eyes looked back at me with some intense, almost unnamable emotion. It took me a moment to figure out its name. Desperation.

But those eyes…I knew them.

A gasp escaped my lips before I hastily set aside the clothes and propped myself on my knees. The dragon was taken aback, but before either of us could second guess ourselves, I reached out a tentative hand toward it. Against all reasoning, I looked into its familiar eyes without as much trepidation as I'd had earlier.

I knew those eyes. I'd seen them every day of my life. I knew them all too well. My hand slowly brushed the side of the dragon's face. I absently noted how smooth his scales were.

My mind was screaming at me that what was possessing my mind was beyond the impossible. There was no logic behind it, and I shouldn't be doing this. It was a dragon! It couldn't be anything—no, any _one_ —else! However some little voice in my mind told me the impossible was right in front of me. Just take the jump.

I licked my lips nervously. I couldn't quite get the moisture back in my throat. My other hand touched the other side of its face, and when the dragon didn't attack, I shifted closer. I could feel his warm breaths on my face with each puff. It hitched when I got close enough, but I knew that mine had too. We were both afraid.

It took a few tries, but I finally managed to take that vital leap of faith. Because I was certain that I knew this dragon.

With a deep breath, I whispered an earth-shattering question. "Toothless?"

* * *

 _I'm still smiling. I have no shame._

 _And now to reply to my Guest Reviewer:_

 _ **MMM** : Uhhh no._

 _Go onto Google translate and type in "Will Levi Ackerman ever die" then translate it to Greek. Copy off the Greek translation and swap the system from an English to Greek translation to a Greek to English translation. Paste in your Greek translation from earlier._

 _The answer you get also applies to Toothless in this fic._

 _Also, even if he was dead, I don't see why that would justify Hiccup massacring all of Berk; that's just extreme, man. Plus that's too dark a genre for my taste. Nope, I'll stick with my friendship-centered mystery fics, thank you very much. Did you just come from reading Breelin's fanfiction Devil before you read my story? For the record, I will never write a story like that. Ever._

 ** _—Tenchiko_**


	9. Crazy

_Hi guys! I'm back. Sorry I didn't update last weekend. I realized that I was catching up with my pre-written chapters, so I decided to write some more chapters before I posted this one. Good choice too because I tightened the plot and cleaned up a few details that work way better now that they've been revised. I'm pretty happy with this._

 _Have fun (heart). Read and relax!_

* * *

Toothless

I can't even tell you how relieved I was when Hiccup had figured the truth out. The change had been terrible, and it had left me feeling raw and pained long after it was over. I couldn't recall much about the change; I just knew that it had been agonizing. It was like every inch of my skin was being stabbed, and I was being ripped apart from the inside out. My spine shattered and reconstructed itself in such a brutal manner that I couldn't even hope to bite back my screams. It's a miracle that no one had heard it, really.

Once the change was over, I had been shocked by the sight of black scales and curled talons. My gasping voice sounded… _wrong._ I hadn't even realized what I'd become until I'd tripped over a wing. I tried to see the rest of myself, but apparently doing so was virtually impossible with my type of dragon anatomy. Needless to say, I hadn't taken the shock quietly.

My shock, however, was nothing compared to the fear I saw in Hiccup's eyes when he'd found me. The change had torn me apart physically, but for Hiccup to look at me as though I were a danger, it ripped me apart far worse by comparison. He didn't recognize me, I eventually realized. I tried to speak to him, but everything came out garbled, not even human sounding by a long shot. Turns out, dragons have never before communicated with people for a reason. Their jaws and vocal chords just weren't designed for forming human words.

After struggling to show him who I was, I felt a wave of relief when his eyes lit up with understanding. Suddenly, that glimmer of fear melted away, and recognition took its place. That's my crazy brother for you; he can piece together the truth no matter how ludicrous the evidence seems. I couldn't have been prouder.

While the shock from both of us began to fade away, the foretold rain started to come down in drizzles. Hiccup was the first to come to his senses. "We need to get out of here," he said as he stood up. He looked up at the sky before treading over to a particularly rocky side of the cove. I followed his line of sight until I noticed a pile of rocks. If I backed away far enough, I could see a hole. Well…that explained how he had gotten into the cove in the first place.

"Mom said she'd organize a search party once the rain started." He looked over at me, apprehensive but trusting at the same time. "We need to go deeper into the forest."

That was probably for the best. I nodded.

When I'd entered the cove, I had literally just dropped in. It had been easy, really. Getting out of the cove on the other hand… To say the least it was embarrassing. I tried to climb out, but I couldn't get a good grasp on the ledge. From the safety of the rocky ridge he'd climbed up to, Hiccup watched my struggles with a worried frown.

' _I'm fine!'_ I tried to tell him, but it came out garbled again. His brows knitted together in concentration, but he clearly didn't understand. I'll give him points for trying though.

"Can't you um…Can't you use your wings?" Hiccup asked, not quite able to conceal the interest inflecting his voice. I gave him a flat look.

I did wind up trying to use my…wings…but I could barely make them move let alone make them flap regularly enough to help me get off the ground. It was like…well, what if _you_ were to randomly sprout another leg or an arm? You _might_ figure out how to move it, but your brain wouldn't be used to controlling this new appendage, now would it? That, at least, turned out to be true for me. Sigh.

After many futile tries, Hiccup finally conceded that this wasn't working and climbed back down to join me. Because his bad luck was at work, he lost his footing, and I instinctively rushed forward to break his fall. He landed on my back, and I could feel his frame stiffen upon landing. I tried not to take it personally. After I was certain that he was steady, I slowly backed away from him.

Hiccup seemed to realize what kind of effect his reaction had on me, and he immediately looked guilty. I motioned for him to stop before he could apologize. I understood.

"I…I guess we'll just stay here," he eventually said as he scanned our surroundings. "Hopefully no one will find this place." I agreed.

The rain was getting heavier by now, so he and I searched for some shelter from the unforgiving weather. There was a jutting section of rock nearby the exit hole that had enough space for Hiccup to sit under. I really didn't need any shelter. As odd as it sounded, I couldn't feel the cold. Maybe it was my thick, scaly hide, or maybe it was the internal gas sac that heated the ignition gas within the belly of every dragon. I didn't really know at the time, but I chose not to complain.

"Are you alright out there, Toothless?" Hiccup asked me as I sat myself outside his temporary shelter.

I shrugged—or at least tried to. _Yeah, I'm okay._

"Aren't you cold?"

I shook my head.

Hiccup nodded. The silence hung over us like an executioner at the chopping block. We were both unsettled by my body, and I caught Hiccup glancing at me every now and then. _He'll be asking questions in three…two…_

"What happened to you? H-how'd this happen?"

I had been wondering that myself. I could only think of one reason, but it was absurd at best. I moved my front…paw (?) toward him, trying to show him my scales. ' _I think it's that…condition…that's doing this.'_

He flinched at my sudden movement, but he tried to hide his apprehension while he studied my extended limb. Hesitantly, his hand that was closest to me uncurled, and he reached out to touch my paw. It felt so…wrong. No, it wasn't him touching me that was odd—though that _was_ really weird. We weren't really the touching type on a good day.

But no, it was the sensation of his hands that was bothering me. The scales registered the pressure, but I couldn't feel the texture of his skin. My memory tried to fill in the gap that my nerves weren't registering. His hands were patchy, I recalled. His fingers were worn and calloused because of how often he'd draw or work at the forge. Various fire-associated incidents at the smithy left his hands with varying degrees of callus and new skin in different places.

His hands flinched away when the strike of Thor's mighty hammer smashed through the clouds above. It was silent between the two of us. Only the pouring rain kept the stillness from being unbearable.

Hiccup shook his head. "I can't believe this is happening."

 _'_ _Same,'_ I replied bitterly.

In frustration, Hiccup combed his hands through his hair and rambled on, "This should be impossible! But it's you in there! I know it's you!"

 _'_ _Well I should hope so,'_ I muttered, _'Otherwise, you would be getting yourself into a load of trouble_ without _me. I mean—'_

"Your disease…" Hiccup whispered. Even in the bad lighting, I could see how his eyes were clouded with confusion and turmoil. "Was that the cause? No, that still doesn't make sense! No stupid cold can turn a person into a dragon!"

He thunked his head against my side and blew out a frustrated puff of air. If I had still been human, I would have probably ruffled his hair in a crappy attempt at being comforting. His dispirited eyes trailed up to meet mine. "You can't come back to the village like this. What are we gonna do? "

Good question. I sighed through my nose. My breath ruffled Hiccup's hair, and he looked at me with pleading eyes, hoping that I may have some idea. I shook my head. _I'm sorry, Hic._

* * *

It must have been near midnight when Hiccup started nodding off. Thanks to past all-nighters at the forge, he was pretty good at fighting back sleep when he wanted to. The rain was still going strong, but it was not as terrible as it had been a few minutes ago. As much as Hiccup tried to hide it, I could see that he was feeling the brunt of the cold air. His clothes were probably still damp from running around in the rain, I realized. He'd catch a cold at this rate.

I nudged him with my snout (using my talon-adorned limbs was not a chance I was willing to take) and waited until I had his full attention. It took a bit of trouble to tell my wing to open since I wasn't used to _having_ a wing in the first place. However when I did get it to move, I motioned for Hiccup to come closer. He blinked in confusion before comprehension set in. Really, all this gesturing around wasn't terribly different from the long-distance signaling that we usually did during raids.

Hiccup carefully got up and sat himself under the outstretched appendage. I could tell that he was a little unnerved by being so close to me since I had been trying to keep a safe distance from him up until then. However, him dying in his sleep from hypothermia was not a risk I was willing to take. He knew that too, I was certain. He'd just have to trust me.

Hiccup hesitantly leaned himself next to me. When nothing bad happened, both of us let ourselves relax. "This is still crazy," Hiccup muttered.

I gave him a look. ' _NO. Really? I did not realize that.'_ Hiccup rolled his eyes at my obviously sarcastic expression. He knew me well enough to hear my words without _actually_ having to hear me.

It was easier for me to move my wings this second time. I wrapped one around him, hoping it would block out the cold. I was relieved to see that Hiccup didn't flinch or stiffen this time. He shifted until he was more comfortable. I followed suit, knowing that I would be sitting there for a while.

"We'll figure something out," Hiccup mumbled. "I promise."

I glanced over at him only to see his eyes flutter closed. Eventually, my improved hearing allowed me to catch his breathing evening out in the midst of the roaring rain. He was already asleep, and I was now alone. I let the sound of pittering rain entertain me while I brooded.

 _What am I going to do?_ I wondered to myself. _How did this happen?_

I couldn't help but think that this should not have been possible. No human had ever turned into a dragon before—at least none that I've ever heard of. Sure, I wasn't exactly normal by viking standards, but Hiccup wasn't either. _He_ was perfectly fine. So what was wrong with me? I didn't know, and to be honest, I wasn't sure wether or not I _wanted_ to know.

The rain was calmer by now. I suddenly stiffened when I heard a strange sound in the distance. Suddenly alert, I sought out the source in the darkness. My eyes were also better now that I was a dragon, but I still didn't see anything. Then suddenly, a bird shot out from its hiding place in a nearby tree. I tried to let myself ease up.

 _Just a bird,_ I told myself. I glanced at Hiccup who hadn't moved much from under my wing. _He's fine,_ I assured myself.

Then I heard another noise, putting me back on high alert. Sigh. This was going to be a long night; I just knew it.

* * *

 _Next chapter: The second Stormcutter encounter!_

 _Until then, have a great week~!_

 _ **—Tenchiko**_


	10. Second Encounter

_I feel like grade-A piece of sithspawn for taking two weeks to update. My excuse is really crummy too. Basically the joys of womanhood decided to kick in and I had no desire to do much more than curl up in my bed and read_ Rise of the Guardians _fanfiction or silently cry over Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s season 3 ending on Netflix. (LINCOLN NOOOOOOOOOO! TTmTT)_

 _Anyway._

 _I invested all my free time on my better days into working on this chapter. Forgive me if I made a few mistakes because I was not 100%. Nevertheless I did spell check and edit the living daylights out of this, and my brain is telling me that it's pretty good the way it is so it should be fine._

 _Okay so quick replies before we start:_

 _Thearizona : Hey thank you for reviewing. I would have replied to you sooner but you brought up a good issue that I thought I should clarify for the rest of my audience. So to answer your comment, __Hiccup isn't so much as against the transformation as he is still unsure of whether this really is Toothless and maybe even a little in denial. Unfortunately he is suffering from a shitty case of second guessing himself. Like, he know's it's Toothless but there's that annoying trail of logic that's still in denial. You know what I mean? It's that annoying voice in his head that's still asking, "Ok I know you're sure it's him, but are you_ sure _you're sure about this? Like, really **really** sure?" that second guessing voice is pretty much causing him to be hyper aware of every little sudden move Toothless makes because like I said, he's still trying to come to terms with the fact that this _ dragon _really is Toothless. This happens to me all the time with various things in daily life (trust me, it sucks), but he can't help it, really._

 _Thank you for bringing that up with me though. I'll admit, I was pretty darn embarrassed at first when I realized how terribly I explained his behavior to my audience (in fact I still cringe and blush every time I think about it haha!), but I'm truly grateful that you helped me realize that. I'll try to fix that up later._

 _Yeah going from sensitive nerves to drugged-by-the-dentist numb probably sucks. I mean, think about it. Dragon scales are thick and fireproof, and I've always believed that they have no nerves. If they did any loss of scales would hurt big time; they're essentially like a million finger nails covering your entire body. Nope. No ability to feel much can come out of that._

 _Yeah when I said second encounter, I did mean second for us to witness. Hee hee hee I had fun with this one. :D_

 _Mcarno : As usual, merci mon ami. I agree; in my opinion compared to most people his age who I know, he really is taking this pretty okay. I hope you enjoy this chapter!_

 _Read & Relax!_

* * *

Hiccup

I woke up before the sunrise when a noise sliced through my dreamless state, and I could vaguely remember dozing off next to Toothless last night. When I'd opened my eyes to see a starry sky, I dimly wondered where I was and whether someone—probably the Thorston twins—had slipped something strong in my drink last night because _this was not my bedroom_. Then I remembered everything that had happened. My brother got turned into a dragon. How could I have forgotten _that_? The rumbling noise went off again. I shifted and pulled the extended wing out of my way to look over at Toothless.

I almost had to do a double take when I saw him. Yep. He was a dragon. …Yep… You can probably tell that I was still getting used to seeing him like…that. To be honest though, this wasn't something that I _wanted_ to get used to seeing.

No, I decided that there was no way I was ever going to get used to this.

I studied his sleek, black form until I trailed up to his face. His eyes were large but still their usual frost stroked green. Surprisingly they were slitted thin like a wild dragon's eyes. I suddenly realized that the noises were coming from him. Was he…growling?

"Toothless?" I asked. He pulled his eyes away from the distance and snapped his attention over to me. "What's going on?" He jerked his head towards the rocky cliff that I had tried to scale yesterday.

My eyes widened when I caught sight of a familiar form perched up on the ledge overlooking the cove. The Stormcutter. It was watching us intently, and even from here, I could see it's eyes roving over us. Toothless growled again.

Was that an impulsive or a conscious act?

When the Stormcutter jumped down to the bottom of the cove, I found myself being pushed back, and I yelped indignantly. Without apologizing, Toothless stood between me and the Stormcutter, lowly growling. By now I was certain that he was acting instinctively. When the Stormcutter got too close, Toothless let out a warning roar. The sound was chilling, knowing that it was coming from my brother. It was feral like the sounds of dragons' roars I've so often heard during raids. Much to my surprise the Stormcutter actually stopped because of the sound and the larger dragon cocked its head.

Well…that was odd.

When Toothless didn't do anything more the Stormcutter tried again to creep closer. Again Toothless growled warningly, and the Stormcutter stopped in reply. The clouds hadn't completely dispersed from after the rain had stopped, but the sky was clear enough to allow moonlight to shine down on the cove. I watched the Stormcutter's movements, until I trailed up to its eyes.

I was expecting them to be wild and slitted like other dragons I'd seen in the past; I had seen it act predatorily before. I knew that Gobber would say that it should be going for the kill already, but that's not what it was doing at all. It's eyes weren't thin but instead dilated in a harmless manner. I would almost say that it seemed curious.

I didn't realize I was moving until Toothless grabbed me by the back of my shirt. With his teeth.

"Hey!"

Toothless growled as he tried to pull me back. Indignant, I jerked myself out of his grip and lost my balance. I fell on my back, but I wasn't being man-handled so I couldn't bring myself to complain. The Stormcutter's shadow could be seen from my peripheral vision, reminding me that the dragon wasn't too far from me. I immediately scrambled back to my feet and looked at the dragon—the real one, I mean. Then I glanced back at Toothless who was less than pleased with me. I rested a hand on his forehead and lightly pushed him back.

"Hang on a moment," I whispered. His responding growl may have sounded angry to anyone else, but I knew that he was truly worried. His large dragonified eyes betrayed him all too easily. I took in a deep breath and placed on a mask of confidence. "Trust me."

If he could have read my mind, Toothless wouldn't have liked what I had in mind and would have protested. Dragon or not, he would have found some way to drag me away by the collar before I did anything stupid. However thanks to his lack of mind reading skills, he only nodded, trusting me to be careful. Too bad he forgot that my middle name isn't Careful—not that he needed to remember that little fact at the moment.

Slowly I stepped away from the safety of Toothless's side, and with nerve-wracking trepidation, I approached the Stormcutter. It watched me with curiosity but didn't do anything hostile. That encouraged me to keep going.

"Hi," I said awkwardly. "Remember me? The kid that shot you down and should be dead by now?"

The Stormcutter blinked. His head bobbed so subtly, I almost didn't catch it. Was that a nod!? I wanted to see if Toothless had caught that too, but I didn't dare make any sudden moves.

Finally, I found myself standing close enough to the dragon to have touched it if I wanted to. It cocked its head curiously before creeping forward—probably to smell me or something, I thought. Then suddenly, it seemed to have caught sight of something it didn't like and backed away from me with a growl. It was not done in a threatening way, but it was clearly a warning. I looked down at myself before I pulled out my dagger, eliciting another growl from the Stormcutter. From behind me, I could hear Toothless growl back, but I didn't bother telling him to cut it out. I looked from the dagger to the dragon. Ever so slowly, I moved the dagger away from myself and dropped it. Just to be clear with the Stormcutter, I scooted towards the relinquished weapon until I could kick the dagger into the nearby pond. It fell in with a wet plop.

By the time I looked up from the rippling water, I found myself face to face with the dragon again. This time, I was less hesitant to reach out. It seemed a little weary of my very human hands touching it, but that was probably because it better associated human hands with violence than with peace.

When I saw the mistrust in its eyes, I lowered my own eyes, hoping against all hope that it wouldn't bite my hand off while I wasn't looking. However I instinctively knew that I had to let it know that I was putting my trust in it, and this was the best way I could think of. (Don't ask me how I knew, please. I still don't know even now.)

I was actually a little surprised when I felt its reptilian hide pressed against my fingers. Its scales were similar to Toothless's with each scale having a distinct ripple under my fingers, but they also possessed glossy sort of texture to them. The strange but exciting sensation blew me away. I released a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding.

When I glanced back at Toothless, he looked like the most shocked reptile in all of Midgard. It was actually pretty funny. Then the Stormcutter ambled past me and tried to approach Toothless. He immediately barked at the bigger dragon, probably commanding it to stay back. I hurried over over to Toothless and tried to calm him.

"Hey, hey," I murmured to my brother. "It's alright. Let him come."

Toothless looked at me with an expression that screamed, _Are you crazy!?_

Frankly, I probably am; I came to terms with that a long time ago. Then again…I don't really know what came over me. The Stormcutter, with its massive size and our nightmarish history, left me unnerved at best. But then, I could also remember what happened in the forest with the bola. There was something about it that was different. It didn't behave they way dragons are supposed to; they way I'd been taught they should behave. It should have killed me back there, but it didn't. I was able to touch it without getting my hand bitten off. What's more, it was intelligent. I could see it in its eyes and in the way it behaved. And in this moment, it was using its intelligence to approach us _peacefully_.

Did I have any idea why? Pshhhhhhhh— No. But it wasn't attacking; I knew that much. It could have if it wanted to, but it was _choosing_ not to attack us. I had to trust that it wasn't going to hurt us as long as we didn't hurt it first.

With my resolve firmly in place, I told Toothless, "Just trust me here."

To placate my brother, who was clearly on edge, I stepped a ways behind him. Now I was far from the Stormcutter but close enough to Toothless just to be safe. The Stormcutter seemed to understand what I was doing, and it waited patiently until I was safely away from it before approaching Toothless. I watched as the Stormcutter got right into Toothless's personal space and sniffed him curiously. Toothless tried to back away, unwilling to be investigated by the creature, but I quickly pushed at him. I wasn't strong enough strength to actually stop him, but I was able to get the message across.

 _Don't. Move._

Whatever the Stormcutter had been scenting for had apparently been found because it suddenly began to purr. The sound was surprising and foreign. I'd never imagined a dragon being able to purr before. It was oddly fitting though. While the Stormcutter seemed very pleased with himself, Toothless couldn't have been farther from happy. He swiped at the dragon, but the Stormcutter barely retreated a step before he was right back.

Relieved to see that my gamble paid off—somewhat—I sighed and looked up at the dreary sky. "It's probably gonna rain again," I muttered to myself. I glanced up at our current surroundings and looked over to the large, and rather friendly-behaving, dragon as an idea formed. "Hey, dragon?" I said. "Could you…could you help us out?" It blinked and cocked its head at me curiously.

* * *

Toothless

I. Was not. Happy. Hiccup was notorious for the crazy ideas that'd possess him, but this had to be the stupid move to end all stupid moves. His newfound tolerance towards the Stormcutter was not something I shared. His idea was not helping improve my opinion at all. Forget the fact that it hadn't done anything threatening to us; its help in getting me out of that cove was not appreciated by me!

Ultimately I was very vocal about my displeasure. I could practically feel Hiccup rolling his eyes. "You know, you only have to blame yourself," he said dryly. "You could have said no."

Gods I wanted to hit him. Unfortunately, from his place on my back, doing so was physically impossible. Sigh.

It took some convincing and a promise from Hiccup that he'd stay close to me—which wound up being on my back—before I accepted the Stormcutter's help. Since I was a much smaller size than the Stormcutter, it had at first tried to carry me out, but there was no way I was letting it do that. Somehow Hiccup had managed to convince it to help by pushing me over the ledge. After a few powerful lunges along with some haphazard wing beats, I was over and out of the cove.

Once Hiccup gracelessly slid off my back, he awkwardly went over to pat the Stormcutter's snout. "Thanks," he said. The Stormcutter bobbed its head. Then Hiccup turned to me with hands on his hips. "Now we just have to find a place to hide you."

I did not like that idea at all, and I made sure he knew it.

He rolled his eyes at my glare. "C'mon, it won't be that bad."

 _"_ _I don't like to hide,"_ I grumbled.

"I can't understand you, bud."

" _Good, you lunatic fishbone."_

"What's"—he cupped his hands over his mouth—" _Brrrrrhhggggg rwooooo rahhh AHHH (click)_ supposed to mean?"

Oh now he was just being insulting. I slammed my head in his gut, throwing him off balance. He fell back into the wet ground, while I stalked off.

" _Idiot_ ," I grumbled.

" _Raaahhhck."_ This time, I glared at him while he failed to suppress an amused grin. I didn't even bother to reign in my growl, but Hiccup merely held his hands up in uncaring surrender.* I didn't know which was worse—his initial unease or this. Now he was being too calm about this.

The Stormcutter chuffed, effectively getting our attention. It jerked its head in the "follow me" motion before walking deeper into the forest. Hiccup and I traded a look before Hiccup decided to move first. I watched him follow the dragon for a moment before growling to myself.

His ability to trust that quickly is going to get him killed one of these days.

I had no choice but to follow him.

A second wave of rain began to trickle down as we trekked through the forest with the Stormcutter in the lead. Hiccup backtracked until he'd caught up with me so he could duck under my wing in order to stave off the rain. As annoyed as I was with him, I didn't shrug him off. The mud-plagued hike didn't take too long, and the Stormcutter finally stopped next to a cave. The mouth was low, and narrow, and it was smack dab under the ledge of a drop off hill. Hiccup didn't bother to wait before making his way inside.

"Oh gez, this is bigger than it looks!"

Curious, I followed Hiccup inside to find that despite the size of the mouth, the cave was indeed pretty spacious—enough so that I could probably turn my entire body around without hitting Hiccup with my extra appendages. Compared to the rest of the forest, the inside of the cave was much drier, and I noticed that while Hiccup and I could easily fit through, the Stormcutter was too big.

Pretty damn convenient place, huh?

"I think this might work for a hiding place," Hiccup muttered, more to himself than to me. I huffed at the idea. Unless it was for strategically combatant purposes, I didn't like to hide. It was degrading otherwise. He seemed to sense my irritation immediately, because he sympathetically patted me where my shoulder would have been if I'd still been human.

"Hey." I glanced at him while he put on a reassuring smile. "We'll figure something out." Glancing over to the mouth of the cave, he and I could see the Stormcutter peeking in on us. Upon realizing that we noticed it, it went back to acting as a sort of sentry outside the cave. I'll admit that it's apparently intelligent behavior was pretty funny to see. It was also a little unnerving though, so I didn't let myself entertain any positive feelings for long.

"Besides," Hiccup added. "I think that Stormcutter here will be helping us too."

" _What makes you say that?"_

As though he understood, he shrugged in reply. "Just a gut feeling."

Without another word, he sat back and made himself comfortable on the dirt caked ground. As he focused his eyes on the lightning show the rain was giving us, I mulled over what just went down a few hours ago. Good gods that had happened so fast. How did I go from suffering from a flu this morning to changing into a dragon and witnessing Hiccup form a…a truce with the dragon that plagued his and my childhood? He could be crazy, but he was never this bad. Either the stress of my condition finally made him loose it, or he honestly thought he could trust this dragon. As I let myself lie down and rest my eyes, I wondered which situation I preferred: a crazy Hiccup or a naïve Hiccup.

* * *

 _*I don't know about you guys, but I got a big kick out of writing this little exchange. It tickled my soul._

 _Some might say that I was too quick about making this...connection (?) between Hiccup, Toothless, and our favorite Stormcutter happen. I say I've been building up to this in the past few chapters so I think it's entirely appropriate. #mystorymyrules_

 _#RogueOnecomingup #fangirling #Jointherebellion_

 ** _—Tenchiko_**


	11. Fishing and Fowl

_Ya know, when December had come a-rolling around, I had thought that I would be able to update_ more often _. Nope. When I planned, God laughed. (Sigh) In my defense my preceeding fanfiction_ One and Only Bluebird _took a month to update every. single. time. I'm doing pretty well with this story by comparison. Nevertheless in the battle of quantity vs. quality, quality will always win. Sorry._

 _So. New chapter._

 _Have fun and Happy New Year!_

* * *

Hiccup

In the morning, I hadn't been awoken by the stinging sunlight that filtered its way into the cave or the trilling birds that flitted from tree to tree. Heck, it wasn't even Toothless's relentless nudging that had woken me up. Nope, it was the sound of a familiar voice shouting in the forest that had successfully jolted me out of dreamland. Mom.

"HICCUP!" she was calling, "TOOTHLESS! Where are you!?"

I sat up straight and traded a frantic look with Toothless. After scrambling onto my feet, I shakily poked my head out of the cave. The first thing I noticed was that there was no sign of the Stormcutter nearby. Was that a good thing? A bad thing? I didn't really know. But just beyond the safety of the cave, I could hear the ringing of mom's loud calls, pleading for her children to answer.

"BOYS!"

I looked over to Toothless recognizing that look in his eyes. He was fighting back the urge to answer her; to go to her for the safety and sense of normalcy she'd provide. I understood that better than anybody at the moment. Thanks to this whole situation, I was feeling the same thing.

"Should we tell her?" I finally asked. Toothless eye's darted over to me as let him debate with himself. Each silent minute he spent was another moment Mom's voice got farther from our hiding place.

What could she even do to help? Sure she'd never kept it a secret that she was a dragon sympathizer. I knew that she wouldn't go for the old viking fall back at the sight of Toothless. But that didn't mean that she'd take this well let alone know what to do about it. Would she even believe me if I tried to explain?

Finally, Toothless came to a decision. He took a step back, and he crouched down low. Looking over to me, he shook his head. I didn't know whether to sigh in relief or give him sympathy—silent sympathy at least.

He nudged me toward the exit, but I hesitated.

"Are you sure?" I asked him quietly. He bobbed his head once. "…Okay." Filled with regret, I climbed out of the cave and into the the bright morning before looking back one more time. "I'll come back," I told my brother. "I promise."

As I left him alone in that cave, I had to force myself not to look back. I tried to focus on throwing off my own trail instead of the self loathing that tortured me on the inside. By leaving him behind, I felt like I'd just betrayed Toothless.

Xxx

Upon returning to the house, Mom had declared that I needed a bath. As I absently scraped mud from under my fingernails, Mom was cleaning off as much dirt off my clothes as she could while muttering irately to herself.

Because I am the _worst_ liar to ever walk the earth, Mom didn't believe me when I said that I hadn't been able to find Toothless. As great an interrogator as Mom can be, she had been unable to get the truth out of me. What seemed to bother her more than my lack of cooperation was the mystery of why I wouldn't tell her.

It killed me to hold back on her, but I was determined to honor Toothless's wishes about the matter. It was the least I could do. However, my determination to be somewhat honorable about my brother's situation didn't stop me from shrinking a little further into the tub with every flick of the eye that Mom shot my way.

Finally, Mom sighed. "Hiccup," she said with an eerie amount of serenity.

"Yeah, Mom?" I asked while silently bracing myself to have to lie again.

I refused to look her in the eye as she made her way in front of me. Unwilling to be deterred, Mom lightly lifted my chin until I was forced to face her. I tried to aim my line of sight somewhere above her head while her eyes bored into me, daring me to lie to her face.

"I'm going to ask you again," she said calmly. "Where is your brother?"

I couldn't take it. I jerked my chin away from her hands, and aggressively combed my fingers through my hair. "I'm sorry, Mom; I really don't know."

She sighed as her disappointment washed over me like icy water.

"I suppose I'll be figuring this out myself then," she said defeatedly.

"I'm sorry, Mom," I muttered.

I was still rubbing my temples with my hands when the comb bit into my hair. Mom smiled softly while she carefully combed out the dirt from my hair.

"Look at you. A chicken could make a nest with all this gunk," she teased.

I felt a smile twitch at my lips. "I'm not a coop, but give me some grain and I'll be move-in ready."

Mom laughed.

* * *

Toothless

Almost immediately after Hiccup had left, the Stormcutter had shown up (much to my annoyance). It wasn't even like it went straight up to me either. It would poke its head at the entrance every once in awhile but didn't linger for long. Instinctual growls from me to the dragon got the message across well enough: I was not in the visiting mood.

"I don't care what Hiccup thinks," I growled, even though I knew that it couldn't understand me, "I do not trust you."

It scrutinized me as though it was curious about the noises I was making. My annoyance skyrocketed when it settled itself down right in front of the entrance of the cave.

Gods, I hated this. When Hiccup came back, it wouldn't be soon enough. Maybe it would pay more attention to _him_ instead. Hiccup was the one who…befriended it in the first place. I on the other hand did not want it within arms reach. What's more—

 _Wait, what's it doing now?_

Suddenly, I noticed that it was acting strange. It's throat was convulsing, and it was making gagging sounds in the back of its throat. That didn't seem normal to me. While transitioning between feeling concerned and feeling curious, I slowly crept closer to it. I squinted because of the burning sunlight as I started stepping out of my little cave.

And then it retched out some fish right in front of me.

I scrambled back when the slime-coated contents spilled out of the dragon's mouth. Thanks to my upgraded sense of smell, I was blasted by the stench of the dead fish. Considering the fact that it had previously been digesting in a dragon's stomach, the pile didn't smell as horrid as it could have. Nevertheless I wrinkled my nose at the smell, and I made a disgusted sound.

Unfazed by my reaction, the Stormcutter looked from the fish pile to me. I cocked my head in confusion. In reply, it leaned down its head to push some of the fish towards me.

What was it—

Oh.

 _Oh_.

Oh no.

I shook my head. No. There was no way that I was going to do that. No. Way. _No_.

The Stormcutter, undeterred, bent down and slurped up a fish. It made sure I was watching as it slowly swallowed its fishy meal. It made a satisfied crooning sound before before smiling at me as though it wanted to let me know that the "meal" was safe to eat. Then it pushed some of the fish my way again.

I cursed the fact that the dragon was able to push the pile deep enough into my refuge to reach me.

Now I had a real situation on my hands (or should I say claws? Paws? What the hell do you call these things that have taken the place of my arms and hands?) I was not going to eat a fish that had been vomited up by a dragon—by the Stormcutter least of all. However my stomach chose that moment to loudly state otherwise, much to my embarrassment. The Stormcutter took that as the okay to further encourage me to eat its idea of food.

 _WHERE'S HICCUP WHEN YOU NEED HIM!?_

The staring contest that ensued seemed to strip years off of my life before I finally sighed. After giving the dragon my most annoyed expression, I walked over to the pile of heaved fish which, mercifully, no bugs of any kind had decided to land on. It didn't look like a pile of vomit as long as I refused to acknowledge the fact that it had a layer of slime on top of it.

 _I can't believe I'm going to do this._

 _It's either this or wait for Hiccup to come help._

I didn't really think I had the patience to wait that long. As I swallowed my pride by approaching the pile, I couldn't help but breath in the smell. Yep. While cringing, I decided that smelling should be avoided at all costs. The Stormcutter observed my movements carefully, probably believing that I'd back out if it looked away too early. Slowly, I scooped some in my mouth, trying to ignore the nasty sensation filling my mouth.

I tried to chew, but I was caught by surprise to realize that I couldn't. Opening and closing seemed to be the only two motions my jaws could make. Well that was just perfect. Now what? I had nasty stuff in my mouth and I couldn't even swallow it because _dang it all_ I didn't know how!

After dropping more puked-up fish than desired, I finally decided to stop and try to recall how the Stormcutter had done it. It'd kinda…tilted its head back a little… I tried to copy from memory, so I wasn't prepared for the food to slip back and splatter on my back. I swear, the deep guttural sounds that the Stormcutter was making were laughs.

Well that had gone horribly.

Frustrated, I growled and stalked away from the fine mess I'd made. I laid in the back of the cave where I could do nothing but brood. Technically, yes, I was being juvenile, but if convicted I wouldn't have been able to care less at the moment.

 _I guess the plan for now is waiting for Hiccup._

A few minutes later, the Stormcutter suddenly made a chuff-like sound. Huffing, I turned to glare at it. However from where I was lying I could see that it was carrying a squirming fish in its mouth. Where had that come from? The Stormcutter jerked its head in the _come over here_ motion. Too curious for my own good, I complied. It waited until I was close before suddenly throwing its head back. I watched as its neck bobbed, and it scarfed down the fish, slowly using its long tongue to usher the fish further down its throat. Once finished, it purred in satisfaction.

Before I could protest, it puked out a single fish in front of me. It nodded to me and then towards the fish. _Your turn,_ it seemed to say. I sighed, still not really optimistic about these…eating lessons.

Convincing myself that I should at least humor the dragon, I scooped the fish into my mouth. After a handful of tries, I finally felt the fish slipping into the back of my throat. My esophagus seemed to expand in order to better allow the fish through. Thankfully the fish, in proportional ratio to my throat, was rather small, so my gag reflex didn't kick in. Admittedly it was a little satisfying when I was finally able to successfully swallow.

I shivered at the weird sensation of swallowing and tried not to groan. The experience had been as weird as it was satisfying. Glancing back up at the dragon, I was surprised to see it smiling. It purred, obviously pleased that I could finally eat like a regular dragon. I narrowed my eyes at it.

"Yeah, celebrate all you want," I muttered. "I'm not a real dragon just because I can eat like one."

I turned around and tried to lie down in a comfortable position. It was hardly a half hour before I felt something batting at my tail. While growling, I turned around, and the Stormcutter was all too pleased to have finally gotten my attention. It motioned with its head for me to come out. I stepped back a bit.

"Uh uh. No way."

It seemed to think I was being foolish because it barked at me. I shook my head. It barked again. I stepped backwards. A growl followed my action, causing me to jump back a step in surprise. While not an _incredibly_ intimidating growl, the very fact that the Stormcutter was being relatively aggressive shocked me—more than it should have. I'd been getting too comfortable with it, I realized.

It, however, didn't seem to regret its actions as it sternly gestured for me to come out. I debated with myself. Go out there and risk being attacked or stay inside and further annoy the dragon? What would Hiccup do?

 _He'd probably never have annoyed it in the first place for one thing._

Shut up, logic.

I sighed. "Okay fine. But if Hiccup finds me dead, he will not be happy," I warned despite the fact that it _still_ couldn't understand me.

I crept out of the cave while giving the Stormcutter the evil eye. In return, it gave me my space but not enough to let me scurry back into the safety of the cave without it being able to reach me first. Great. I winced at the burning sunlight as I finally exited the cave. To my surprise, the Stormcutter didn't do anything hostile but instead began walking, expecting me to follow.

I was too curious with its behavior to consider refusing. We trekked deep into the forest until we came across a brook. While not a terribly powerful waterway, the waters hosted small schools of fish who were employing the currents to get to their destination. The Stormcutter chirped. I looked up to see it standing in the middle of the brook. After confirming that I was paying attention, it stared intently into the waters, I watched curiously before it suddenly dunked its head in. When the Stormcutter's head came back up, it had a slippery, writhing fish in its mouth.

I frowned in confusion. "That's great, but I've already—"

It tossed the wriggling fish back into the waters. Then it tilted its head into the brook and looked at me. As soon as comprehension dawned on me, I jerked my head towards the brook then back to the Stormcutter. The Stormcutter nodded, understanding what I figured out.

I paused for a minute as I processed this information. This was getting crazy. A dragon, a supposedly mindless, blood-lusting dragon…is now my teacher. The same dragon that scarred my childhood.

I couldn't help but laugh at the irony as I shook my head. "Okay, okay," I said. "Let's give this a go."

If I'd still been human, I'd have rolled up my sleeves and braced myself for the oncoming plunge into freezing waters. Thanks to the insulating quality of my dragon form, I barely felt the cold pricks as I waded my way in. It took several tries and a few episodes of accidentally breathing in water before I finally clamped down on a fish's tail. It only took at least two hours. (Believe me; I checked. The sun doesn't lie.) The Stormcutter roared with joy at my accomplishment, and I had to admit that I was feeling a little proud myself. It was pretty awesome.

"Okay," I said through clinched teeth before tossing the fish away, "So you taught me a few new things. What else ya got?"

Confused by the sounds I was making, the Stormcutter stopped in the middle of its revelry and cocked its head. If I could have I would have face-palmed.

"Forgot. Language barrier. Right."

It cocked its head to the other side. I blinked as a thought came to me. I cocked my head. It cocked its head to the other side. I copied the movement again. It cocked its head again. I copied again. After a few minutes of this ongoing pattern, the frustrated Stormcutter briefly shoved me headfirst into the water. I spluttered as I tried to stand up and muster a good glare. It only laughed, and I couldn't help but huff.

"Yes. Ha ha. Very funny," I drawled sarcastically, eyeing it carefully. _Time to test my theory._ "Hey!"

The Stormcutter stopped laughing and cocked its head. I stood in the middle of the waters and made the dipping motion as though I was fishing again. Then I walked over to the land and sat on my haunches. I nodded in the direction of the waters. Then I cocked my head. I couldn't hold back a grin as comprehension seemed to light up its eyes. With some luck, we were on the same wavelength here.

* * *

 _Sooooo...Kinda filler-ish but it's still necessary._

 ** _—Tenchiko_**

 _P.S. To my dear Empire supporter: #LONGLIVELUKESKYWALKER #GRAYJEDIFORLIFE!_

 _(also, patience my dear padawan [Cara normal]. Episode 8 is merely a December away)_


	12. The Frustrations of Manual Labor

_Good golly, this one is one heckuva whopper, let me tell you! It was not my intention, I swear, but I couldn't find a good place to cut it off._ _Meh. I guess it kinda makes up for those update-less weeks._

 _If anything reads weird, have mercy! My brain is burnt out from staring at a screen all day, and I did my best._

 _R & R!_

* * *

Hiccup

It was another day at the forge after a terrible time in the arena. I sharpened a sword with practiced ease while my mind was far away. I was worrying about Toothless, worrying about Mom, thinking about Dad, worrying about how Toothless was fairing being alone with the Stormcutter, worrying about Dragon Training, worrying about Toothless again because there were so many people out there searching for him, thinking back to what happened earlier that day at training—

"'Ey lad!"

When Gobber's voice jerked me out of my thoughts so quickly the sword accidentally slipped from my grip. I barely stepped back fast enough for it clatter to the ground without harming me.

The fact that I'd been _that_ close to loosing a finger made me wince in regret. My body was already sore from earlier; I didn't need a missing a finger added to today's list of injuries.

"Sorry, Gobber," I muttered, knowing without looking that a disapproving frown was being sent my way.

With his hook hand, he turned me around and gave me a scrutinizing look. "In all my years of teachin' ya smith'n work, I've never seen ya so distracted," he commented.

Nervously I rubbed the back of my neck and chuckled. "Yeah. Sorry about that."

"Got a lot on yer mind?"

"You could say that."

"It wouldn't have anyth'n' ta do with this morn'n would it?"

I shrugged. "Not really."

This morning's bruiser of a lesson was definitely not my mind's number one priority. No, without a doubt, Toothless had full claim to that slot.

Nevertheless, the very memory of today's training exercise was able to make me cringe. Running around in a maze being chased by a Deadly Nadder was not my idea of a great time. I'd gotten toppled over by Astrid and yelled at for it! _She_ had been the one to fall on _me_ for Thor's sake! Gods I hated Dragon Training.

After a pause, Gobber nodded and hobbled over to his own pile of work, much to my relief. Out of all the people on Berk, Gobber was right there on my microscopic list of people who I liked and who didn't treat me like a pest. Not too surprising though considering the fact that I've been his apprentice for so long—I'd probably drive him crazy otherwise.

Usually I could talk to him about whatever was bothering me. But not this. _Definitely_ not this.

Finally the last of the ordered weapons found its place in my finished pile. I checked to make sure every one of them was just right, and I made sure every weapon in need of resharpening had been finished. When I was sure that everything was in order, I stretched my aching muscles—yes, I do _technically_ have muscles—and undid my apron.

"Hey, Gobber. I'm calling it a day."

"Haaang on." Gobber made his way over to me with a book in hand. "'Ere." I caught it before it could land in the still-cooling embers in the forge. "You're behind on yer homework thanks to yer little disappear'n trick the other day."

I quirked my brow and looked down at the book. It's leather cover had seen better days, and the pages were worn from years of usage. However I could still make out the dragon design on the cover so it was still recognizable.

"The Dragon Manual," Gobber explained needlessly. "Everything we know about every dragon we know of. Ye might be one of the few students in the class to take this 'ere seriously, so be sure to study up."

I nodded as a thought occurred to me. I'd scanned through the book before a few times in the past, but I couldn't recall seeing any dragon in there that resembled Toothless. He wasn't any of the common dragons, that was for sure. But what was he?

One way to find out; I had to get to the cove.

"If Mom asks, I'll be in the woods," I said as I hurried out of the smithy.

"Sure, sure. An' Hiccup!"

I stopped just outside the smithy and glanced at my mentor questioningly. Gobber's back was facing me while he worked on hammering together a new sword.

"If ye find Toothless, remember to bring 'em straight 'ere so I can give 'em a good hook to the 'ead."

I sighed but let a small smile curl up the corners of my lips. "You got it, Gobber."

xxx

Mom would have probably killed me for going out into the woods _again_. Thankfully all I'd have to say was that I'd been looking for Toothless and she'd say no more. It wouldn't be a lie either.

I raced through the woods, acutely aware that the search parties had already been wrapping up their investigations. I'd heard no word of a black dragon and a Stormcutter being spotted , so I was going to take that as a pretty good sign.

Initially, I tried to search for the cave from memory, but everything looked so different in the daylight. Don't even get me started on the fact that it was nearly sunset. Shadows were _everywhere_ , rendering my surroundings with another layer of contrast from the nighttime terrain. I couldn't tell what was familiar and what wasn't.

I guess that meant plan B. If not the cave, then go to the cove. I knew how to get there at least.

After finding the old tree fort, getting to the cove was easy. It was even easier for me to get in by ducking under that hole I'd found the other night and climb down to the inside of the cove. Once at the bottom, I looked around hoping to see Toothless or the Stormcutter nearby. Nothing. Chewing on the inside of my cheek, I wondered how on earth I was supposed to let the Stormcutter and Toothless know I was here.

…

Ah to Hel with it.

"TOOTHLESS?" I called, "STORMCUTTER!? I'M HERE!"

I was so deep in the woods that keeping quiet was hardly even necessary. The last wave of searchers were gone, and I was on the other side of Raven Point. I could be as loud as I wanted and no one would have heard me.

Then I heard a rustling of leaves behind me, and I turned around automatically. A cluster of bushes rustled and shook jerkily. I stepped towards the sound out of curiosity.

"Toothless?" I asked.

No answer. I got closer and closer, tightening my hold on my book. Then the rustling stopped. I froze, debating about whether or not it would be smart to get any closer. My curiosity won out in the end, and I followed accordingly. Then all of a sudden the creature, and source of the rustling, jumped out!

Yeah it was a squirrel.

Lame.

It didn't even stop to look at me or anything; it just ran across the cove, aiming for a mangle of tree roots on the other side of the cove. It was probably going to use them to get out of the cove. Lucky.

I couldn't help but scoff at myself. "Great I'd been freaked out by a—"

Suddenly, a large black form pounced on the squirrel. The little guy screeched in shock as it was pinned down under the larger creature. I had to look away as the creature scooped up the squirrel in its mouth. I swear, I heard a crack before the squirrel stopped making noises. I looked back once I was sure the creature had finished eating the animal. Then I recognized the squirrel killer.

"Toothless?"

Toothless whirled around and faced me, surprised. I wasn't sure whether to laugh or feel slightly disturbed about what I'd just seen. In the end I found a middle ground and said, "Wow."

Toothless looked reasonably embarrassed.

"So uh…" I vaguely gestured in his approximate direction. "Squirrel hunting. That-That's a...uhh..." As I fumbled with my words, a thought suddenly occurred to me. "Wait, how'd you get down here so quietly?"

Slightly perplexed, Toothless nodded in the direction of the walls.

"Did you…fly to get down here?" I asked.

Toothless shook his head. He scanned the ground until he found a patch of dirt. Using his talon, he wrote in the dirt using bold letters: TECHNICALLY, I GLIDED.

 _Huh_ , I thought to myself as I read his blocky writing. _This makes things a bit easier._

 _"_ Did the Stormcutter teach you?" I asked. He nodded. I glanced around, realizing that the other dragon was nowhere to be seen. "Where is he?" I finally asked.

Toothless glanced around. He seemed to spot the second dragon, and he immediately gestured for me to stay low.

 _Oh great._ I didn't really want to, but I had no desire to be shoved into a bush. I stepped behind a tall bush and let Toothless do his thing. If things got bad though I was not going to just let anyone get hurt.

I watched as Toothless crept low to the ground. His tail swayed from side to side as he eyed the mass of rocks where the Stormcutter was hiding. Then Toothless broke into a run. As soon as he was close enough, he pounced and disappeared into the shrubbery. Soon, I heard his indignant squawk.

Fearing the worst, I ran out of my hiding place. Upon finding the two, I was surprised. The Stormcutter had indeed pinned Toothless down, but Toothless didn't seem all that bothered by it. In fact, he was just lying there looking kinda…sulky. The Stormcutter rumbled out what sounded like a laugh. I blinked. The larger dragon pawed at Toothless, as though teasing him which caused me to blink again. Toothless merely gave the Stormcutter a half-hearted glare and shoved him off. Then he walked over to me, huffing indignantly at the other dragon.

Okay…what?

"What just happened" I asked.

Toothless looked at me, glared at the Stormcutter who rolled his eyes at Toothless's apparent childishness.

"I feel like I just missed something huge," I said.

Toothless actually cocked his head at me. Like a puppy. Yep. I'd missed something really huge. After dropping my book to the ground, I ran my fingers through my hair and started pacing.

"I left hardly a day ago with you very much against me fraternizing with the enemy," I ranted, "and _here you are_ play-pouncing on pre-mentioned enemy as though that wasn't hypocritical of you at all!"

Toothless gave me an odd look. YOU OK? he wrote.

I sighed and rubbed my temples. "Sorry. I'm just having a really off day today." Now Toothless was concerned. He nudged at me, and gave his signature _spill the beans_ look. "Oh it's nothing. Just dealing with Mom and the lying. And training. And work. And the search parties, and everything else that makes up the insanity of my life!"

I sat myself down while trying to control my boiling frustrations. Toothless laid his head on my lap, willing me to look at him, trying to give me moral support. The Stormcutter even seemed concerned for me. I took a deep breath and forced my overwhelmed nerves back under control.

All the the worrying, and the lying, and the hiding was all building up on top of me. External frustrations, I could handle. This…this was something new entirely. If I made it a week without going crazy, it would be a miracle. And now here was my brother changing his tune too fast for me to keep up. Not that I had a problem with that. It's just that a little warning would have been great, you know?

Plus he was still a dragon. Couldn't exactly forget about that little problem. Speaking of which…

* * *

Toothless

"Oh hey!" Hiccup stood up quickly and grabbed the Dragon Manual. "Look at this."

I instantly recognized the manual and quirked my brow in confusion. The Stormcutter's curiosity was a little less than subtle. It stuck its head right up to Hiccup and sniffed the leathery book curiously. The dragon licked it, much to Hiccup's and my surprise, and seemed to consider the taste as it smacked its lips. When it sneezed and scrunched his nostrils, I had to assume that the Stormcutter didn't care for the taste.

Hiccup chuckled. "Well, it not _supposed_ to be food, Dragon."

He opened the pages wherein yellowed paper hosted an array of diagrams for every dragon known to man. I nudged the book and gave him a questioning look. _What did you bring this here for?_

The Stormcutter, meanwhile, tried to lick one of the pages. Hiccup had to bat its face away.

"See I was thinking—"

I hate it when he says that, I thought as I groaned loudly. He scowled and swatted me.

"Let me finish before you call me stupid." I rolled his eyes and motioned for him to go on. " _As I was saying_ , I think the first thing we should do is try to identify what kind of dragon you are."

I considered my suggestion for a moment. I had an idea where he was going with this. Find out the dragon, and maybe that'll explain why I'm like…this. Like maybe there's some sort of curse associated with it. I wasn't the most superstitious person on the island, but I had to admit, it made some sense. I shrugged and nodded in agreement.

So that's what we did. _For two hours._ None of the dragons seemed to remotely resemble me. Hiccup even sketched me out in multiple angles. Nothing matched in the book. After scanning through all the different species of dragons known to man, I was about ready to give up. Heck, we even read through the scarce information on Stormcutters just to see if they were in a symbiotic relationship with any dragon resembling me. It would certainly explain a lot. Unfortunately there was nothing.

By the time we had covered three fourths of the book, Hiccup was sprawled on the floor and ready to give up. I laid next to him trying to turn the pages on my own while the Stormcutter on Hiccup's other side looked really, really bored.

Hiccup sighed and watched as the last of the daylight began fading. "Mom's gonna freak out if I don't come home soon."

I perked my head up and felt a pang on loneliness at the thought. The Stormcutter was surprisingly good company, and I was slowly but surely beginning to trust it, but Hiccup was family. It was really freaky to spend the past two nights without him. For him to leave now was like having a sliver of normalcy taken away from my screwed up world.

If it was possible, Hiccup looked even more depressed about the idea of leaving than I did.

"Maybe we should forget about _what_ you are and focus more on how to change you back." He looked over to the Stormcutter. "Do you think you could help us there?"

The dragon cocked its head.

"I'm going out on a limb here and guessing that you know something about this," Hiccup pressed. "Am I right?"

Much to my surprise, the Stormcutter made a shrugging gesture. I was going to take that as a yes. How Hiccup came to such a conclusion, I wasn't sure. His train of thought was erratic like that, I suppose.

"So you know how to change him back? To a human, I mean."

The Stormcutter only cocked his head in confusion. I understood that in this context, that meant _Why?_

" _I think you know exactly why, Stormcutter,_ " I growled, suddenly annoyed.

"Calm down, Toothless," Hiccup said, stopping me from making any hostile moves. He looked between the two of us and sighed. "I really have to go. We'll talk tomorrow, okay?" He turned to me and briefly wrapped his arms around my neck. "I'll see you tomorrow."

I nodded, burying my nose in his hair by accident. With my acute senses, I could smell a scent coming off of him that was distinctly…familiar. His scent, I concluded. I was pleasantly surprised about how familiar it was.

After letting go, Hiccup made his way to the exit and began the climb up the wall. It really hurt to see him go. He glanced back, and he gave a small wave before climbing over the ledge.

Suddenly the Stormcutter chirped. Hiccup stopped and questioningly glanced over at the dragon who ran closer to the ledge. The Stormcutter then did something odd. It whistled. Hiccup looked as confused as I felt. The dragon looked between the two of us before whistling again. I cocked my head. What was _that_ supposed to mean? It seemed surprised at my lack of comprehension. It stretched out its wings and whistled again, but I still didn't get it.

Hiccup furrowed his brows, trying to understand, but he was as lost as I was. Finally he sighed and shook his head. "We'll try again tomorrow."

The Stormcutter looked a little put off. It probably thought us stupid for being unable to understand it. I felt a little guilty to be honest.

Apparently Hiccup did too. "Sorry, Dragon."

As soon as he disappeared, the loneliness hit me hard. The Stormcutter seemed to sense it because the dragon was right by my side. I would've been freaking out and reeling away if it hadn't suddenly draped a wing over me. I froze in place, not daring to move a muscle. It made a cooing noise, instantly assuring me that this wasn't supposed to be a hostile gesture.

After finally letting myself relax, I was surprised about the dragon's action. It was such a…human response. I looked up at the dragon, and it gave me an characteristically human smile. Human, like every other action its been doing in front of me

All my life I'd been told that dragons were these mindless killing machines, but in in under two days, I was seeing some freaky things about them that made them seem too …intelligent. It just didn't make sense. They communicated, they comprehended, they conveyed a range of emotions, and now they performed harmlessly friendly displays of behavior.

I wasn't sure what to think. If they could do all of that, then what else about dragons did we not understand? What made them act so differently from every other occasion I've ever encountered them in? What else did Hiccup and I have yet to uncover while I was like this?

* * *

Hiccup

It was late after nightfall. Gobber had called all the recruits to one of the watchtowers for a group bonfire. All the other recruits listened in various degrees of enthusiasm wile Gobber animatedly told the story of how he'd lost his limbs. He retold his plight easily while using grand gestures and evocative descriptions to keep his listeners engaged.

I knew the story from heart, and I could quote it word for word to anyone who asked because of how many times he's told it to me in the forge. For that reason, I ignored him and his audience, and instead, I set aside my still uncooked fish in favor of reading through the Dragon Manual. My last ditch effort at finding a match to Toothless in the manual. I couldn't bring out my sketched depictions of Toothless out in the open, but my memory was pretty good. So far I'd found nothing.

I glanced up as Gobber finished his story only for Fishlegs to ask an odd question.

"Wouldn't it be cool if you still had control over your limb?" he asked. I quirked an eyebrow but said nothing as he went on. "Like if you were still in control of it, you could have crushed the dragon's heart or something." Everyone else was giving Fishlegs a range of different odd looks that all said _You're crazy_.

I shrugged and flipped through the pages of my book while Snotlout ranted on about how he'd take out every arm and leg off of every dragon he saw. With his face. I took special effort in not snorting at the thought. _Like he needs to worsen his face any further_ , Toothless would have quipped.

A pang of loneliness stabbed through my chest. I missed him despite knowing that he was only a few miles away. So close but so far. _I'll see him tomorrow_ , I told myself. _And Dragon too._ Yes that is what I decided to start calling him. Forgive me, but I wasn't feeling very original. _Maybe he'd like to have some food from home. Toothless likes chicken stew. Maybe—_

"Hey what's that you got there, Useless?"

Suddenly, the book was snatched from my hands. "Hey!"

Snotlout opened to a random page and scoffed. "You actually read this stuff?"

"Could you please—" I tried to grab for the book, but Snotlout held it out of my reach. "C'mon! Just give it back!"

Snotlout scoffed. "Fine." With that, he threw it over his shoulder, and it plummeted to the ground below. I should have seen that coming. "Fetch."

I rolled my eyes before making my way over to the stairs. I trained my eyes ahead when I passed the other teens. I could hear the twins snickering, and Astrid and Fishlegs both tried to ignore the scene I'd made. Gobber was giving Snotlout the evil eye—tomorrow would probably be seeing Snotlout on the receiving end of Gobber's passive aggressive revenge on my behalf in the arena—while my jerk of a cousin just sat in his seat with a smug look directed at me.

I've handled worse, really. He just _loved_ to annoy me whenever Toothless wasn't around ready to play guard dog.

Another reason I missed my brother.

Once at the bottom of the watchtower, I relied on the moonlight to guide me to my book. As I dusted the dirt off the manual's pages, I heard an indignant shout from a few paces away. I looked in the direction of the noise only to realize that some viking, who was now shouting curses, had been hit by something. I narrowed my eyes at the lump on the ground. Was that my fish? I whipped my head back and looked up to see the twins cackling loudly at their unsuspecting victim.

Now would be a great time to hide before they decided to make me their next target. The gods knew how well-equipped for causing trouble those two could be. Especially if I looked like an easy target at the moment

The first place I thought of was the forge. So that's exactly where I went.

Once inside, I lit some candles and shut myself away into the back room where I knew no one would bother me. I seated myself at my cluttered desk and sighed. I don't know how long I sat there brooding about nothing and everything at the same time. Eventually, I decided to open my book and look for where I'd left off. I was almost through with the entire manual, and I'd still found nothing. Finally, I turned to a page where it was almost completely blank.1

I mumbled quietly, "What the—?"

"Hiccup? Ye 'ere?"

"I'm in the backroom!" I called absentmindedly while I looked at the blank page. The tarp was pulled away and Gobber hobbled in while I laid the open book out on my desk. I felt under the table until I found another candle.

Critically Gobber glanced around the dim room before looking at me. "I 'ope ye aren't tak'n any of that nonsense to 'eart, lad."

"Oh don't worry," I replied. "I'm used to it."

"Then why're ye hid'n in 'ere for?" Gobber asked skeptically.

I lit the candle and placed it close to the second one. Yep, it was an empty page. "Gobber? Why is the—" I read the page carefully. "—Night Fury section empty?"

"Eh?" Gobber leaned over to look at the page. He clucked and waved it off. "No one's ever seen one and lived to tell the tale."

"But it's still in the book?" I asked.

"It's righ' in front of yer eyes ain't it?"

Technically… "But no one's ever seen it before?"

"That's what I just said," Gobber replied with masked impatience.

I felt suspicious. "How can someone say a dragon exists if no one's ever lived to talk about it?"

"Gah!" Gobber exclaimed. "You're ask'n too many questions for one night! It's giv'n me a headache."

"Just humor me. Please?" I asked. Something told me that this was what I was looking for. A dragon that no one has seen before, and I have seen a dragon that matched no other dragon in the manual. That had to be it; the dragon I was looking for! Just one more clue that's all I needed…

"Oh I dunno," Gobber finally said. "No one 'as seen one 'round 'ere in so long." He stroked his chin as he thought about it for a moment. "Tell ye what. C'mere."

I followed Gobber as he hobbled into the forge area. He rummaged through one of the cabinets I'd been banned from, muttering unintelligibly. Odd knickknacks and trinkets were taken out and placed on the table. I picked one up and examined it only to drop it onto the table when he exclaimed, "Ah ha!" and he pulled out a small chest. He placed it on the table with a thunk.

"This 'ere holds my great-great-great grandfather, Bork the Bold's, notes," Gobber explained, "Everyth'n not in the Dragon Manual will likely be found in 'ere. Now, if ye promise to behave and clean up after yourself, I'll let you 'ave a look see in 'ere."

Jackpot! I nodded eagerly. "Yeah, I promise to be careful."

I reached out for the chest, but Gobber suddenly pulled it away. "Now tha' means no tak'n it outta the smithy."

I nodded. "Okay."

When I tried to take it, he pulled it away again. "An' keep the candles away from the notes."

"Right."

Once again, he kept it out of my reach. "An' if ya think you're gonna doze off, I want ye to put this all away immediately."

"Got it."

"Don't let it near the tools."

"Uh huh."

"Stay at the table."

"Okay."

"Try not to move much."

"Gobber!" I exclaimed. "I'll be careful! I promise!" I tried to reach for it one more time, only for Gobber to pull it away.

"An' double check to make sure ye didn't lose anyth'n."

"Gob- _ber_!"

"Oh fine!"

Finally, I got ahold of the chest, but now, Gobber wouldn't let it go. I gave him a glare that he received passively. After a brief tug-of-war, I finally wrenched the chest away from him. With a sigh of relief, I opened the box. Inside was a neatly tied together pile of notes and papers. I looked up at my longtime mentor.

"Do you know which one might have the info on Night Furies?" I asked. Gobber shrugged. I smiled slightly. "Thank you. I'll take care of it. I promise."

Gobber chuckled and ruffled my hair. "Ye better," he threatened playfully.

I set myself to work, not even noticing when Gobber had seen himself out. Like I'd promised, I kept the candles a good distance away from me, and I was careful with each sheet of paper. I was determined to keep everything in good shape.

I was a little surprised to find how much raw material Gobber's lots-of-greats grandfather had written on dragons. Bork had also written a thing or two on other odd topics as well: the omen of the day, a log of his…dating life…, a random recipe every now and then, and a few mind numbing depictions of his neighbors. Seriously, who in their right mind would wear something like _that_ in broad daylight!?

I must have been there all night because I was feeling my eyes begin to tire by the time I'd come across a brief sheet labeled Night Fury. I read the page aloud.

"'I was on a desolate island when _it_ had appeared. I didn't see it, and it never bothered to reveal itself to me. The darkness covered its body, but it couldn't hide its voice.'" I frowned in confusion. "It's voice? 'When it attacked, its scream was strangled with vengeance. Rage ignited its fire, and the darkness shielded its presence. If anything was worth fearing, it would be this creature. It's wrath-empowered fires took out half the island, leaving nothing but rubble and charred trees in its wake. I was lucky to leave that island alive. I call it, the Night Fury.'"

I looked up from the entry and let those words sink in. I could almost imagine what Bork had witnessed. A swift form gliding through the air. An unholy shriek before fire devastated everything in sight. It sounded like something spawned from the depths Helheim alright.

I whipped out my notebook and carefully copied Bork's notes onto my own sheet of paper. I glanced outside to see very few people still wandering around. Good. I finished the last word, _fury_ , with an unintended flourish. I took special care to put everything back to the way it had been before. I checked, double checked, and triple checked until I was certain that everything was in its place, nothing was ripped, and nothing got lost. Gobber would give me Hel if I'd lost anything.

I hurried into the house and checked on my mom who was sound asleep at the table. Gods she must have come back from searching for Toothless. She looked exhausted. Juggling chiefing duties and a fruitless search for her lost son must be tough. After this was all over, I was determined to make it up to her somehow.

After draping a blanket over her shoulders and stoking the fire to keep the house warm, I hurried upstairs and lit a small candle. I laid out the Night Fury section of the Dragon Manual, placed my drawing of Toothless's dragon form on top of it. After that, I laid Bork's eye witness account of the dragon next to the two books. A black dragon unrecorded by anyone else in history, not even Bork the Bold, was in the forest right now, and a dragon unseen but not undocumented was in the Dragon Manual. It fit.

* * *

 _Well that's one mystery solved. But it's only a piece to an even bigger puzzle..._

 _Now for a message to my dear mati triops (because I apparently cannot send you a pm): Ok, I agree that the Jedi Order was a failing system, but the Jedi weren't evil; simply misguided beyond the hope of salvaging. No matter what, I will always be an advocate of the light side over the futile, unfulfilling ways of the Sith and their dark side._

 _And I am ending that argument right there, because we are supposed to be in the trenches of the HTTYD fandom. Inferno may look like a lightsaber, but it is definitely not. So if you want to continue this conversation, let's talk via pm, okay?_

 _—Tenchiko_


	13. Eel Issues

Toothless

"You're a Night Fury!"

I gave Hiccup an odd look as I tried to eat the stew he'd brought. Although I pretty much had to lap it up like a canine, it was a nice gesture. Thankfully, Mom didn't make it; Hiccup had probably gotten up early to do it himself. It's a miracle that he had never inherited mom's crappy cooking skills. Never eat her meatballs, guys. Ever. Not even under the threat of death by blood eagle. Trust me; _the blood eagle_ is the better option.

As I ate, I read the papers that Hiccup had laid out for me. I had to say, I was a rather surprised by all the pieces Hiccup had managed to pull together. Just to be sure I was reading it right, I gave Hiccup a questioning look.

He grinned and nodded before spooning some soup into his mouth. "Yeah, it's exactly as it looks. Check this out." He set his bowl aside and read the paper about the Night Fury aloud. "See, it's a dragon that was unseen because it hidden in the dark. Your black scales—" he scratched my scaly hide to emphasize his point "—would make the perfect camouflage at night. It only makes sense." Hiccup glanced up at the Stormcutter who had been following the conversation animatedly. "So am I right?" Hiccup asked. The Stormcutter crooned and nodded. Hiccup pumped his fists in the air and cheered, "I knew it!"

" _Great_ ," I said. " _Now what?_ " I cocked my head to make the question more apparent for Hiccup.

Although at first seemingly prepared to reply, Hiccup stopped short. "I'm…still working on a phase two."

If I could have I would have face-palmed. Nevertheless, my ear flaps instinctively pressed against my head, and that combined with my narrowed eyes was enough to get my exasperation across to my brother. _You didn't think this one through, did you Hic?_

"Oh give me a break!" he exclaimed. "At least we know what you are; let's enjoy that little victory!"

In the wake of his animated defense of self, Hiccup nearly knocked over his bowl by accident, but thankfully the Stormcutter caught it in time. The bowl's contents sloshed from the jerky catch, effectively seizing the Stormcutter's interest. The Stormcutter curiously sniffed the bowl, trying to understand what was so great about the liquid contents inside. I had to bark at it to back off when it tried to lap up some of the soup.

" _That's Hiccup's!_ " I scolded.

Hiccup chuckled nervously. "I guessed that that might happen." He pulled a fish out of his satchel and tossed it to the Stormcutter. "Here."

I blinked in surprise as the Stormcutter eagerly scooped up the treat. " _Well, aren't you prepared for everything._ " Seriously, no bag that little should be able to carry a whole fish, two bowls, and a canteen of soup. Suspicious, I pawed the satchel open. " _What else did you put in here? A ship?_ " Turned out the answer was no. Along with two cods, an eel tumbled out instead, and I backed away immediately. " _What the—HIC!_ "

Hiccup glanced at the eel in surprise, but the Stormcutter reacted far more violently. It screeched in shock and pounced over to me. After abruptly shoving me away from the eel, it batted the offending seafood away with its tail. I just laid there completely floored, literally and figuratively, while Hiccup looked even more so. Ignoring both our reactions, the Stormcutter hissed at the eel in unbridled disgust.

"Hey! Hey! It's okay!" Hiccup exclaimed as he stood and picked up the eel. He tossed it far away, calming the Stormcutter down almost immediately. It huffed indignantly before plodding over to me and helping me up with encouraging nudges. "Gez," Hiccup said, "I know that Toothless is allergic, but you didn't have to freak out like that."

I narrowed my eyes at him. " _Why'd you bring it then?_ " He knew just as well as I did what eels did to me.

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "Oh hush; I wasn't going to give it to you. It was for Dragon—" the Stormcutter snarled at the notion "—but apparently he doesn't want it," Hiccup added quickly. Now that I knew that the Stormcutter would never really hurt Hiccup, watching Hiccup feign intimidation towards the seemingly angry dragon amused me. I had to laugh.

* * *

Hiccup

Before I tell you what had happened at dragon training later that day, I feel the need to explain myself. Namely, I need to explain the eel. Before leaving Toothless and the Stormcutter behind at the cove, I'd taken the eel with me because I thought if anyone was going to charr the poor fish, it should at least be mom. She could always use some cooking practice. I didn't get the chance to leave the eel at the house though. The moment I'd returned from the forest, Mom had found me. She scolded me about disappearing this morning while she was herding me to the training arena.

So it was completely accidental when I hid the eel in my sleeve, which was way more uncomfortable than you might imagine. However I decided to take the discomfort over handing it over to Mom. Knowing her, she would have asked me why I had it in the first place. I couldn't exactly tell her, "Well, I was going to feed it to the Stormcutter who is now Toothless's temporary guardian, but turns out, Dragon—that's what I call him. Don't judge me—doesn't like eel soooooooooo…"

That definitely would not have gone over well.

So up my sleeve it went!

As a bucket of water was shoved in my hands and I was sent to team up with Fishlegs for today's lesson, I was trying to balance an eel under my vest _while_ the arena was being filled with Zippleback gas. I could hardly see my own hand with the green haze obscuring my vision. The gas reeked with an sharp, fumy stench that clung to the roof of my mouth with every breath I took in. Fishlegs ignited my wild imagination with descriptions of possible attacks that the fog's source could use on us. Good times, good times.

"Today's lesson is about teamwork!" Gobber announced as he stepped out of the arena, leaving only me and the other recruits behind. "Work together and you _might_ survive."

 _Great,_ I thought dryly. _And who would ever want to actually work with me?_

I'll admit that that was a little pessimistic, but it was completely justified. Fishlegs looked ready to bolt, and the dragon hadn't even shown itself yet. With all this fog, I knew that keeping together would be critical, but I also knew that that wouldn't be happening. Between the two of us, I would be most likely to get caught by the dragon, and staying behind to help me probably wouldn't be worth it for Fishlegs. I could only hope it didn't come to that.

"Now a wet dragon head cannot light its fire. The Hideous Zippleback is extra tricky," Gobber explained from outside the arena.

Zippleback. Great.

"One head breathes gas, and the other lights it. Your job is to know which is which."

I tried not to groan. My mind was already piecing this impossible puzzle together. The easiest and safest way to douse the dragon's head would be to have one team take down the head and another take down the tail. One of the nearby supply crates had rope, I knew. That could help. But a strategy was useless if the target couldn't be found. Waiting for the fog was out of the question; the Zippleback could merely create more before the gas could thin out. Even if there was an opening between the time it recharged and the time the fog thinned enough for anyone to see, I doubted that anyone would listen to anything I had to say. _Sigh_.

To my left, I could hear Fishlegs muttering facts about the Zippleback. "Razor sharp, serrated teeth that inject venom for predigestion. Prefers ambush attack, crushing its victims in its—"

"Will you please stop that!?" I hissed, my anxiety seeping deep into my tone.

Mercifully, Fishlegs piped down. It didn't quite shut off my active mind as I envisioned a fleshy, crushed head being reduced to a smashed pile of goop by a Zippleback. I imagined dragon venom coursing through its victim until the victim was nothing but a pile chunky mush. Sometimes, being imaginative is not a blessing but a curse.

The sound of buckets crashing and Tuffnut's scream broke me out of my thoughts. I could see a puddle forming not too far away from Fishlegs and I. I jumped out of the way when Tuffnut ran past screaming, "Oh, I am hurt! I am very much hurt!"

"Chances of survival are dwindling into single digits now," Fishlegs whispered fearfully.

I scanned the fog until I saw a silhouette that was too large to be any of the other teens. "Look out!" I shouted when the dragon's heads emerged from the fog. Fishlegs fumbled with the bucket before finally dousing one of the dragon's heads. The now-wet head then puffed out more green gas while smiling evilly. Oh no.

"Oh. Wrong head," Fishlegs said nervously. As soon as the dragon began emitting more gas, Fishlegs fulfilled my earlier prediction and ran, leaving me behind. _Called it_.

I heard a clicking sound from behind me, and thanks to the clearing fog, I saw the d ragon's other head sparking in its mouth. The ignition head!

"Now Hiccup!" Gobber shouted.

I pressed my lips together and hurled the bucket as high as I could. Much to my dismay, the dragon's heads were too high, and not a drop of water reached its chins. It sloshed to the ground in a large puddle. The dragon grinned down at me, taking pleasure in my dismay.

"Oh, come on!" I cried.

"RUN HICCUP!" Gobber yelled.

The bucket dropped out of my hands with a clatter as I backed away slowly. The Zippleback was taking its sweet time stalking towards me, its sadistic pleasure in the hunt almost palpable. When it finally lunged, I fell on my butt and braced for the attack, but it suddenly halted before it could sink its teeth into me. I allowed myself to unwind slowly as it hesitated, sniffing me suspiciously. It snuffled my clothes with its warm breath before it suddenly jerked away. It took a moment for me to realize what had happened.

The eel. It had smelled the eel.

I immediately recalled Dragon's reaction to the eel earlier that day. "You've got to be joking," I muttered in shock. As it began to back away, hissing in disgust, I snapped into action. Even though my movements were slow, the Zippleback hastened its retreat as I stood.

"Back away," I said, as firmly as I could. As I approached with my hands held out as though ready to push it back, it continued to hiss and withdraw. "Back!" I said, getting a little louder. "Back! Back!" It backed away, like I commanded, towards the cage while I became louder and more assertive. "Don't make me tell you again! Yes that's right. Back into your cage." I carefully opened my vest and pulled out the slimy eel, trying to keep it as concealed as possible. "Now think about what you've done," I said before flinging the eel into the cage with the cowering Zippleback.

It cowered away from the eel, and I felt a pang of guilt before closing it in with the detested creature. I looked up, realizing that I'd have to let Gobber actually lock the dragon inside. Good. One less thing on my guilt list.

I wiped my hands against my clothes as I remained blissfully ignorant to the looks I was getting. That is, until I turned around. Shock, awe, and disbelief were the most prominent expressions I caught among my peers and Gobber. Fishlegs's empty bucket hit the floor with a clang, but no one seemed to have noticed. I shifted uneasily under the weight of their undivided attention before I could take no more.

"Okay!" I finally said. "So are we done?" It felt more awkward when no one, not even silence-breaking Gobber, answered me. "Because I've got some things I need to…" Without finishing my sentence—because, honestly, I had no idea what else to say—I ran towards the exit, hoping to get away before their petrification could wear off. "See you tomorrow!" I called as a side note.

I didn't look back after I left the arena and ran across the bridge and through the village. I only slowed down after I made it to the edge of the forest. I leaned over, trying to catch my breath as the event in the arena finally sank in.

"WHAT JUST HAPPENED!?"

* * *

 _I'm stuck in bed after waking up this morning with a 104 degree temperature. Not kidding; I felt terrible this morning. Thanks to my cold though, I finally got around to posting this chapter! :)_

 _Mati triops: In order to accept private messages (better known as PMs) go to your profile by clicking on your username written in orange located at the top right corner. After doing so you will immediately be taken to your account settings. Scroll down until you reach your Account Options. Look for Accept Private Messages (PM) and click the circle under Yes in order to enable others to send you PMs. That's all there is to it! :D_

 _—Tenchiko_


	14. Hums and Heritage

_*sigh* I'm not even gonna bother making an excuse. Three months later, and_ now _I update!? Ugh. Thank you for bearing my tardiness guys._

* * *

Hiccup

After my first… incident in the ring, escape to the cove became harder. _Way_ harder. With a few neat tricks that I learned from Toothless and Dragon, I was able to stay out of trouble with the arena dragons, but those neat tricks were not subtle. I couldn't just _use_ one and get away with it. Nope, people noticed. And _boy_ did they notice.

I would put a fight in the ring to an abrupt end only to realize that there were spectators. At first it was only a few, two or three maybe, but more gathered as word spread. They would become clamorous and sometimes cheer; during that time, I'd slip away as fast as I could.

I took my usual place alone at one of the tables in the Great Hall only for other people to come up to me with a slew of questions. They were all blown away, what with seeing Hiccup the Useless doing something right for a change. I thought it was downright uncomfortable.

One of the few who didn't fawn over me was Astrid. I should be grateful, but I'm really not because the looks she'd give me were unsettling. Suspicious.

In the ring, her eyes would burn a hole into the back of my head, and at the forge she'd watch my every movement like a predator on the hunt. I couldn't even walk to my house without eventually feeling her eyes on me. She's probably the only person on the island who's taking my sudden progress with a grain of salt, and it's _unnerving_.

And then there's Mom. Oh sure, she was happy for me, but Mom's cunning. She doesn't see things as they are on the surface; to her, the unexplainable can be explained if people would bother to look deeper. After I decided to start having my meals at home, Mom started joining me. She'd ask questions I couldn't answer, and she was relentless. Keeping Mom at bay was a chore.

Odin, give me the strength of a thousand warriors. Or at least one.

Then came the night _another_ problem was added to my plate.

Gobber had come by that evening to join us for dinner (because there was no way I was suffering Mom's cooking alone), and he had stayed long after to keep Mom company. I was up in the loft, using minimal light to read the Dragon Manual again. My eyes were tiring after reading the same page on the Whispering Death for the seventh time. Words blended together until I finally gave up and flipped the page.

This couldn't go on, I finally admitted. Nothing in Bork's notes or in the Dragon Manual was giving me any clues about Toothless draconic problem. There were no other resources available to me either.

I growled in frustration, hating myself so much. Ugh! Who was I kidding? I'm a blacksmith's apprentice not a-a-a shaman or a mage. What did I know about the supernatural?

From my bedside I stared at the wall across from me. The warm light of the fire pulsed like a beating heart. What would happen if I just went to Mom and blurted out, "Toothless is a dragon!"? I thought about that a lot. I could just go down the stairs right now, and whisper it in her ear, and wait for her reaction.

 _Toothless would kill me._

With a defeated groan, I flopped back on my bed. I watched the little candle next to my bed sweat wax. It's tiny flame danced with the breeze coming from my window. It was hypnotically entertaining while I forced my head to clear.

Meanwhile downstairs, Mom and Gobber's voices rose. Their words filtered in my ears—particularly "Toothless" and my name. My eyes trailed over to the ledge when the voices abruptly cut out. Curious, I blew out the candle and crept to the edge of the loft.

The fire downstairs was still alight, and it hummed a crackling tune as Gobber prodded at the fuel. Across from him, Mom was hunched over the table, probably patching up some clothes. It was hard to see her face from my place in the loft, but I could tell that Mom was upset. Her finger work was quick but a little too jerky, and she didn't even try to look up at Gobber.

I strained to hear the conversation until I finally picked up a few of Mom's words.

"…think I don't know that!?"

"I know ye do," Gobber said calmly. "That's why I'm try'n to tell ye that…maybe it's time to start consider'n the worst."

Mom scoffed and tossed aside her work before getting out of her chair to pace. I ducked back when she looked toward the loft, hoping that she hadn't seen me. When she didn't call me out, I crept back to my previous spot.

"Ye said so yerself," Gobber continued on, "'e wasn't doing well. To remain missing all this time…I can't see what else could be keep'n him."

"Toothless. Is not. Dead," Mom hissed, desperate to make him understand.

"And what makes ye so sure?"

The silence hung in the air, and I held my breath in anticipation. No wonder Gobber waited until I was supposedly asleep to have this talk. But still… I only now realized what kind of situation Mom was caught in.

 _We should have told her, Toothless,_ I thought.

"I'd know," Mom finally replied. "I'd just know it; if he were dead…"

It got painfully quiet after that. I peeked over the ledge to watch as Mom fed some logs to the ravenous flames. She refused to back down from her stance, defiant. Finally the silence was broken.

"I can still recall the day ye brought him home," Gobber said almost wistfully. He chuckled. "Rowdiest child a've ever laid eyes on. Made Hiccup look like a darling by comparison."

I bit back an indignant "Hey!"

Mom giggled too, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with him. "He certainly never made things easy."

"I'll say." Gobber downed the last of his drink. "Must've gotten it from the wilder end of his gene pool."

Mom muttered something under her breath, but dismissed it when Gobber asked.

She sighed out a breathy chuckle. "Sometimes things got so rough I'd wonder what I'd gotten myself into."

"Well no one ever asked ye to raise two wee ones at once. Keep'n 'im was all your own madness at work."

"A lovely way to put it."

"But ye don't deny it."

"And I wouldn't want it any different." She sighed as wistful memories of days past probably flashed through her mind. "No, I'll never regret keeping him. Never."

"Aye." A pause. "Out of curiosity, has he ever asked about them? His parents, I mean. His homeland even?"

I didn't need to hear Mom's reply to know the answer. I once asked him the same thing, and Toothless said he'd ask when it was actually important. I don't know if that was pride talking or if he really didn't care, but I had to wonder: _Could_ it be important?

Even after I decided to call it a night, I was still thinking about it. Mom had never exactly told us what had killed the people of Toothless's native island. All we knew was that his parents were dead. But what killed them?

More chilling was the question: _Were they_ really _dead?_

At this point, I was willing to believe anything. I had the Dragon Manual memorized word for word, and all other resources were either scarce or nonexistent. The answers weren't here on Berk. Could they be on another island entirely?

It was a stupid idea. I had a better chance of getting past the Hairy Scary Librarian of the Meathead Public Library. Traveling to an island for a wild goose chase was not just stupid; it was impossible, I reasoned.

 _But what if it has the answers I'm looking for?_

My internal debate raged on all night, and I tossed and turned in my bed for hours. By the time the sun blinked over the horizon however, my mind was already drafting out the note I'd be leaving for Mom and Dad to find after I was gone.

The only problem? I had to find the island first. Granted, I could ask Mom directly, but that created too many problems. If I only knew the island's name, or at least it's general area, I could track it down on the map.

I spent my entire day thinking about it. No angle seemed to work. There was always a hole in every idea, something that would create more questions than I could answer.

I was even thinking about this while in the middle of Dragon Training. I nearly got blasted by the Gronckle. Thankfully I managed to pacify it in time. After I escaped from training, ignoring the curious looks I got along the way, I considered another option. Would Dragon know anything about Toothless's island?

* * *

Toothless

Stormcutter really picked a crappy day to disappear out of the blue. The night before, some animal had been making this obnoxious hum, and _it wouldn't shut up!_ I didn't get any sleep, and that left me extremely grouchy by sunrise. The Stormcutter's disappearing trick was the tip of the iceberg to my foul-tempered mind. May the gods have mercy on any animal that decided to cross me while I was in my mood.

I thought that walking in the woods would give me a chance to calm down. It. Was not. Working. The weather, which was clearly forecasting _bad weather_ , wasn't helping me either. The sky was dark and cloudy, and nobody, save for one stupid, bad tempered dragon-boy, would be caught dead out here. It wasn't windy, but I wouldn't be surprised if the rain got stormy later on.

As I wandered through a thicket, a bird overhead burst out of the trees, flapping furiously. I watched with mild interest as it fluttered away. By the time the bird was completely out of sight, I realized that my wings had uncoiled without my permission. My eyes widened, and I quickly snapped them back in place, growling to myself.

Trying to tamper down my ire—honestly, it was getting irrational—I tuned in to my surroundings. I could hear scuttling animals and twittering birds, all looking for shelter. I could also detect a flurry of smells from the stench of another animal's kill to the scent of oncoming rain. The forest was still teaming with life, enough to distract me for a while at least.

Okay so maybe this walk was kinda helping. In the past, I can remember wandering around the forest whenever something I needed space—even before all this happened. I would do it for the odd comfort that the atmosphere gave me. I had to admit though, this new level of awareness was a perk to my situation.

Suddenly, I heard the familiar sound of muttering. As soon as I realized who it was, my childish side got the better of me. I grinned as I slunk into the nearest thicket, carefully trying to keep quiet. This had to be the most immature thing I could pull, but godsdammit, I needed a break!

However, before I could burst out of my hiding place, I suddenly heard another voice I doubt either of us had expected.

" _Hiccup!?_ "

* * *

Hiccup

"Hiccup!?"

I swear to the gods, I totally did _not_ jump or make _any_ undignified squeaks in surprise!

Astrid used her axe to cut away some foliage to make a path. She swiped her bangs our of her face before giving me a hard glare. "What on earth are you doing out here?" she asked as she finally caught up to me.

"Astrid! Hey, Astrid. Hi um—"

"I asked you a question."

"Oh uh…" I looked around, and my eyes locked on to the black silhouette tucked inside a nearby thicket. Bright green eyes glowed because of the contrast in lighting. My eyes widened. Oh shoot.

"What?" Astrid's eyes followed mine before trailing towards Toothless's general direction.

I quickly got in the way and asked, "S-So what brings you out here?" Her annoyed glare made me shrink back immediately.

She crossed her arms and looked at me suspiciously. "I was training and saw you trip over a log." Heat creeped up my neck, permanently burning my face a bright red. "Now what about you?"

"Me?"

"What are you doing out here?"

I discreetly glanced behind her, searching for Toothless. He was being rock silent, but nowhere near safe.

"I-I'm just, you know, enjoying nature. Just normal…guy… stuff." That was lame even to my own ears.

"I see," she said even though her eyes said _Don't give me that crap._

One thing led to another, but eventually Astrid trapped me within an interrogation that was hidden under the guise of a casual conversation. "Do you come out here often?" "You've been doing better in the ring lately." "How _did_ you get that dragon back in its cage?" "Do you always act this weird?"

Not the most comfortable situation I've even been in. On the other hand, I took advantage of the situation, and used it to lead Astrid away from Toothless's hiding place. The process was painfully slooooow, but I turned her persistence against her. She kept up with me only so she wouldn't loose me or her chance to get answers.

I only felt a _little_ guilty.

"So what are you really doing out here?" Astrid finally asked as we entered into a clearing.

I sighed. " _Nothing_ ," I ground out.

"Don't lie to me!" Her sudden grip on my shoulder was both surprising and painful. I was forced to face her as she glared me down. "You always come out here every evening since training began. Don't look so surprised! I—" She ranted on, but I wasn't listening anymore.

As nervous as I was, my eyes darted everywhere, looking at anything but her. There was no way I could tell Astrid Hofferson of all people what's going on. Toothless and Astrid weren't enemies, but they weren't friends either. Forget my feelings for her; Toothless would be livid if she knew!

"Are you even listening anymore!?"

Snapping back into reality, I held my hands up defensively and took a few steps back. "Sorry, wh—" CRRRRKKKK! "AAAH!"

"HICCUP!"

The slip was disorienting. One minute my feet were on solid ground, and then I was suddenly tumbling into darkness. I was pounded on the way down, and my face got scraped up a little. I lost all perception of up and down until I jolted to a halt at the bottom.

I groaned as my everywhere stung. I spit dirt out of my mouth as I heard Astrid screaming my name from the mouth of the hole. Wait...a hole?

"I'm okay!" I shouted. _Kinda_.

After I looked around, I wasn't so sure. _Yep..._ I thought to myself. _I'm in a hole. Sort of._ This hole had a series of tunnels, but no apparent exit. What on earth? Looking up, I could see Astrid's silhouette against the sunlight.

"So uh…what just happened?" I asked dumbly.

I could practically feel her roll her eyes. "Can you get out?"

"Doubt it." I replied. I got on my feet and brushed off the dirt from my sleeves and pants. Judging by eye, there was no way I was climbing out of this hole.

"I'll get help."

"No!" I shouted before she could leave. Her head jerked down to my general direction, incredulous.

"Hiccup—"

"Just get a rope, and drag me out. Bring Fishlegs if you must," I added quickly, unwilling to explain why I didn't want any certain adults noticing my trips out here.

But before she could reply, We both heard a sudden growl rumble through the cavern. I froze. Astrid and I were dead silent as we listened carefully. Again. There it was. CRASH! The floor beneath me gave out before I was flung upwards. My head hit something hard before everything suddenly went dark.

* * *

Toothless

Things had gone from _bad_ to _incredibly life threatening!_ too quickly for my liking. I ran as fast as I could, following the sound of an incredibly pissed off dragon. By the time I found the source, I caught Astrid leading the dragon away from an unconscious Hiccup. The first thing I noticed about the dragon was the spikes. It had the body of a snake and it's eyes were white, almost unseeing. I cursed. That giant ball and chain of spikes was a Whispering Death! It was almost twice my length and flat-out furious! I'd bet anything that Astrid was not geared to fight that thing!

But damn, was she doing a good job. Her movements were fluid, and each swing of her axe was meant to kill. Unfortunately the dragon was faster, and it tunneled underground multiple times. It would never attack her head on, but it was clearly trying to scare her away by getting dangerously close. With a powerful war cry, Astrid threw her axe at it when it surfaced again, aiming for the eyes. She missed by a centimeter!

As she rolled out of the way of an attack, I ran over to Hiccup who was lying on the ground still unconscious. I nudged him but he didn't respond, sending a spark of fear down my spine. Astrid, who had yet to notice me, ripped her axe out of the earth with a grunt while I sniffed him over. The metallic pang to his scent made a rush of emotion smash away all reasoning. The fight between Astrid and the Whispering Death must have continued on for only a few seconds before I jumped in.

I tackled the dragon, barely registering the pricks against my thick hide. The dragon screeched as we rolled away from Astrid, who froze in shock. The Whispering Death threw me off and my body uprooted an unfortunate shrub or three along the way. I was on my feet faster than my mind could process. I was probably running on an adrenaline high by now, but I didn't care. My senses were screaming _Attack! Attack! Attack!_ and I was much too eager to comply.

It swooped upwards, but I tackled it before it could burrow into the ground. It shrieked when I raked my claws down its body, and then it threw me into a tree. By the time I shook away the spinning, it had tunneled in deep underground. I was vaguely aware of the growling that was rumbling out of my own throat. My heightened hearing was suddenly being put to actual use, searching for the tell-tale sign of the surfacing dragon. From my peripheral vision, I caught Astrid with Hiccup. He was aware enough to be moving, but he was leaning heavily on her for support. That angry sensation boiled over at the sight.

Vibrations under my feet told me that I'd soon be getting my much needed stress relief. It shot out from under my feet; I was barely able to get out of the way. Instinct was my ally here, and my roar, the manifestation of my anger, seemed to get the message across. I was it's enemy. It lunged only for me to tackle it head on, and I clamped down hard with my teeth.

The taste of iron filled my mouth, satisfying my revenge, but for good measure, I bit down a little harder. It slammed me to the ground several times until I finally let go and flew up too high for me to reach. It's mouth filled with gas, ready to use its firepower. Apparently, this fight had gone from defense of territory to something more personal. To say I was sorry would have been a flat out _lie_. I tensed, ready to get out of the way, but it was a waste. Before the Whispering Death could ignite its fire, a burst of distorted fire was shot from behind me.

The fire missed the Whispering Death, but it was enough to stop the fight. A large shadow loomed over me before the newcomer could land between us. It was Stormcutter. The doubled-winged dragon had both wings spread to shield me from the Whispering Death's sight. Stormcutter roared, receiving a screech in reply from the Whispering Death.

They exchanged a series of roars and growls. It took a few minutes for the roaring to temper down between the two. Subtle head gestures suggested that they were arguing over me. I could _hear_ Stormcutter's exasperation! Towards me! Even though my mind was calming down gradually, I was still indignant. I voiced my irritation with a series of barks. Stormcutter turned and _growled_ at me in reply. And I mean an I'm-mad-at-you-young-man kind of growl! I was so shocked, I didn't even reply.

Finally the Whispering Death roared, probably in my general direction, before tunneling into the ground. The earth shook underneath before slowly ebbing back into a standstill. Once Stormcutter let down his wings, I scurried over to the hole that the attacking dragon had left behind. My nose twitched as it's lingering stench filled my nostrils, making me sneeze. I glared into the hole one more time and snorted before walking away.

Only to come face to face with a very stern Stormcutter. He wasn't angry per se, but he was not pleased either.

I tilted my head. _What?_

He growled in reply, his warm breath puffing onto my face.

Grumbling he turned away, clearly expecting me to follow. He didn't wait to check if I was coming either. I felt a cross between confused and guilty. He was upset alright. But could he blame me!? How much of that had he actually _seen_? Had he even smelled Hiccup's blood!? Dammit why the hel was his opinion so important to me anyway?

I followed, puzzled as hell before I remembered.

 _Hiccup!_

* * *

 _Once again, thanks for not ditching me yet, guys._

 _Reply to a Guest reviewer from back in chapter 12: First off, sorry for not replying in the last chapter. My fevered brain had told me that I'd pasted in my reply, but three days later and whaddya know? I didn't! Okay so on to the reply._

 _Thank you so much; I feel so honored! This isn't the first time I've merged cannon plot with a spin of my own, so I'm glad to hear that I still know what I'm doing! I myself am rather iffy about transformation fics (and can you blame me? There are a ton out there that kinda...are meh), but a transformation fic was essentially what spawned in my brain so I had to write it. Have you read_ Umbreytingu _by Elfpen or_ A Recipe for Disaster _by Arcawolf? Those two are both amazing transformation fics even though Arcawolf's fic kinda sounds iffy if you're only judging by the description. However in reality it's great; I got a bit of inspiration from reading that one in particular._

 ** _—Tenchiko_**


	15. Intrusion

_Forgive me readers for I have sinned. This chapter has been done for a while...I just hadn't proofed it until this morning. And it's been three months. Again. If it's any compensation, I have more time on my hands these days, so the next chapter should be coming out sooner._

 _Review replies are at the bottom of this chapter._

 _Enjoy!_

 _P.S. This morning at, like, six in the morning, I was writing an idea dump for a future fanficition I want to write, but I had some technical difficulties. Long story short, I need to write in the daylight where I can see my keyboard while my screen is covered. If some wierd random schmuck starts popping up in this chapter, my bad. But I proof read so it shouldn't be there, I swear._

* * *

Hiccup

Honestly, I don't know how long I was out. Heck, I don't even know what knocked me over the head. I guess it doesn't matter that much. I woke up, and I didn't end up like Bucket, so…whatever I guess. Besides one hangover of a headache, I managed to get away with nothing but a few scrapes and bruises.

Another perk was that I missed some days of training. I had hoped that my absence would allow everyone to forget about my "spectacular dragon fighting skills." Boy was I ever wrong.

"Tell them I'm still comatose!" I cried to Mom when all the teens decided to show up at my front door.

Mom chuckled as I buried myself under my covers. "I don't think they'll take 'no' for an answer."

I grumbled something rude. I was already missing my privacy.

"Oh don't whine," she scolded. "They're trying to be nice; you should be happy."

I would be if I actually _wanted_ company. If Toothless was here, he would have been able to run them off. Then again, if Toothless was here, I wouldn't be stuck in this situation—

Oh shoot!

I sat up as it really hit me… _how long was I out?!_ Had Toothless gotten away? Had he seen what'd happened!? Oh gods, he must be freaking out, wondering why I haven't come by! Shoot shoot shoot!

While I was thinking through all of this, Mom had decided to take initiative and let the others in. One by one each of them climbed up the stairs until they were all taking up space in the loft. Snotlout, cocky as ever, strutted through. He easily made himself at home on Toothless's bed. Toothless would've killed him, but I decided that my brother didn't need to know.

The twins, who climbed up last, took their sweet time by shoving each other down the stairs. Ruffnut shouted colorful words at her brother who in turn laughed at the look on her face. Astrid rolled her eyes at their antics. She was giving me _that look_ again, already making me nervous. Meanwhile, Fishlegs hurried over to my bed excitedly, holding a book in his hands.

I gave Mom a subtle glare of betrayal. She merely smiled in reply before saying, "I'll bring up something warm for you lot to drink in a minute." Then she disappeared down the stairs.

"Okay, thanks," I replied. So there I was, awkwardly sitting in bed surrounded by the other teens. Each member of group looked at me with varying degrees of expectation.

I took in a deep breath. "So," I began. "What brings—"

"Aww man!" Tuffnut cried.

I jumped. "Wha-What did I—"

"You sound perfectly fine!"

"Huh!?"

"We were hoping to hear you talk like a crazy person," Ruffnut explained, disappointed. "Guess the blow wasn't hard enough."

My eyes bounced between the confusing duo. "…I-I'm not even sure how I should respond to that."

"It's easier if you just don't," Astrid said.

"Noted." I shifted awkwardly in place, waiting for someone to say something. "Soooo…Was there _another_ reason behind this…impromptu—"

"What do you remember about the black dragon?" Fishlegs blurted out.

I'm 90% sure that my heart almost exploded. I paled. Oh no.

"Uhhhh what?" I asked, nervous. "Wh…wh-what do you mean a _black_ dragon?"

Astrid's eyes narrowed while Fishlegs prattled on. "Don't you remember? When you two got attacked, a black dragon appeared out of nowhere! It's amazing! I've never even heard of a black dragon in the manual. And Astrid said—"

I was trying not to panic. _They knew about Toothless_ , I kept thinking again and again. They _knew_! Granted, they haven't put two and two together, but if word gets out—who am I kidding? It probably already has! Now Toothless was really in trouble.

Astrid spoke up. "See? I told you guys!"

Oh great now what?

"He didn't see it," she went on. "He can't confirm or deny what I saw, okay?"

"But you said—" Tuffnut was quickly cut off by an elbow to the gut courtesy of Ruffnut.

"Well that just sucks," Snotlout piped in. "Can't even give us any info. How useless can you get?"

"Snotlout!"

"What?" he asked nonchalantly, punching Fishlegs's shoulder as he passed. "It's true!"

My anger flared as quickly as it fizzled out. I sighed. _He was always gonna be a jerk wasn't he?_ I thought sourly.

I blew at my bangs and leaned my back against the headboard as Snotlout strode towards the stairs and called out, "I'm bailing! Later losers—see you around, babe."

He tried to take Astrid's hand only for her to pull it back and curl it into a fist. For once, he intelligently decided to give up. With that, he clomped down that stairs, shouted a goodbye to my mom, and slammed our door. It bounced back open, but he didn't come back to close it. I shook my head.

Soon after, the twins decided to leave too ("This party is lame! If you need us we'll…not be in Sven's field.") Later—hardly half an hour later—we would learn not-so-surprisingly that they were caught tipping yaks in Sven's field by Silent Sven himself. Mom left soon after that to drag the twins to their parents' house.

Fishlegs stayed for the tea Mom brought up, but tried to excuse himself soon after. I could tell the silence was unnerving him—not that I blamed him. However, surprisingly, Astrid asked him to stay.

"A-Are you sure?" he asked.

"Just sit down."

"O-ok." He glanced around until I finally motioned for him to sit on Toothless's bed. My brother wouldn't mind…probably.

That train of thought, however, disappeared when Astrid decided to stand over me and give me a scrutinizing once-over. It felt like she was burning a hole into my soul, and I squirmed. She seemed to be good at doing that to me.

"…You really don't recall seeing that dragon yesterday, don't you," she eventually stated.

Well that was an out if I ever saw one. "Sorry, Astrid, I—"

"But you recognized it anyway," she continued. I gulped. "Where?"

I took a deep breath and willed myself to look at her. "I don't know what you're talking about." Look at that; I didn't stutter.

"Really? Fishlegs!"

Poor Fishlegs squeaked. "Y-Yeah?"

"You drew my description the other day, right?"

"K-kinda; I mean—"

"Do you have it?"

He swallowed but nodded. Immediately, he opened up his book and pulled out a loose leaf of paper. He unfolded the paper carefully, like it was made of gold, before passing it to me. I mentally cursed when I saw the picture. Fishlegs wasn't the best artist, but he knew enough to craft an accurate picture of Toothless. I wanted to bury my face in my hands and groan.

Oh, Toothless, what have you done?

"And guess what else I found." Astrid dropped my journal onto my lap. It was already open to a specific page. I don't know what upset me more—the fact that she snooped through _my journal_ or the fact that she found my sketches of Toothless.

Suddenly I felt claustrophobic. I snatched up my journal and slid over to my desk. As I tried to think up an explanation, I rearranged some notes and blueprints I'd left scattered everywhere, and I repositioned my chair. A hand over mine stopped me from needlessly dusting off my desk.

Astrid was keeping a level gaze on me, not kind but not murderous—thank Odin. "What's going on Hiccup?" she asked. "What are you hiding?"

As thrilling as holding her hand was, I was getting tired of her snooping. "I've told you before; it's nothing," I said as I swiped my hand away.

"That's a lie and you know it!" she snapped. "Ever since Toothless disappeared, you've been acting strange." She considered me again before adding, "Well, strang _er_. You've been disappearing after class, you barely speak to anyone, let alone your mom or Gobber—"

"And how would you know that?"

"Does it matter?" She looked ready to pull at her hair. "Why can't you just tell us the truth?"

I scowled but kept my lips firmly shut.

Astrid was relentless. Her eyes were searching me for any physical indication that she was on to something. Meanwhile I felt closed in, trapped. My head buzzed as the frustration started welling up inside me.

"Does it have to do with Toothless?" she asked. I pressed my lips together and tried to steady my breathing. "It does, doesn't it? So he's alive then. Where is he? Is he okay? What does he have to do with that—"

I did not like this conversation's new direction. There was no way she'd manage to fit two and two together, right? Well no, but…

"What did it do to him?" When I didn't answer, she growled and grabbed me by my shirt. "C'mon! You have to give me something to work with!"

"And what if I don't want to?" I finally snapped back.

"So I'm right then."

I struggled to get her hands off me, but she was much stronger than I am. "It's none of your business!" I shouted. "So just lay off!"

"What about your mother?" Astrid demanded, almost shouting as loudly as me. "Isn't it _her_ business?"

"Shut up!"

Then suddenly I was on the ground, and my cheek stung. Disoriented, I slowly swiped my hand across my face. I nearly expected my face to feel hot or maybe even bleed a little. The hit didn't even hurt as bad as you might think. I was just a little…surprised.

If she was remorseful, she didn't show it. As I slowly got up the floor, she slowly said, "Don't you _ever_ tell me what to do!"

Although bewildered and a little worse for wear, I managed to look her in the eye and reply, "I could say the same for you."

Her scowl morphed into full-on anger. Before she could grab me again however, the door downstairs swung open and thudded shut. "Kids?" Mom called. "Are you still up there?"

We were all tense and silent. Astrid was still glaring, and Fishlegs looked like a frightened rabbit. I was the first to act.

"Yeah, Mom," I called back, "we're here!"

Astrid slowly stepped away, although her glare still drilled into me, as Mom climbed up the stairs. Mom looked around the room, probably noting the thick tension. It was clogging up the air like smoke during a raid.

Her eyes trailed to each of us before she asked, "Is everything going alright up here?"

"Fine," I bit out. The last thing I needed was another interrogation.

Mom didn't seem convinced, but soon her attention was caught elsewhere. "Hiccup, what happened to your face?"

My hand shot up to my cheek where the red welt was probably beginning to show. I shot a glance at Astrid before I looked at the ground and lied, "We were throwing around some books, and I didn't catch it."

Mom didn't believe my (admittedly dumb) story, but she let it slide. With Mom home, the grilling came to a close—thank goodness. Astrid and Fishlegs eventually excused themselves, but the final look Astrid gave me screamed _this isn't over!_ I waited for a while to make sure they were long gone before dashing down the stairs.

I ran out the back door without giving Mom a straight answer. I was tired of making up lies.

I ran and ran, faster than I ever had before. My throat soon dried and my legs burned. For once, it seemed like nature wouldn't trip me up along the way. My heart was thundering and the air's icy tendrils froze my clenched hands.

I was angry, and stressed, and loosing control fast. No, I wasn't going to visit Toothless or dragon. Not today. I just…I needed to be alone.

* * *

Toothless

"Oh come _on_ , Stormy!" I cried.

No, I was not whining—how ludicrous—but it wasn't like I had anything better to do. It'd been almost two days after the incident—three in a few hours—and Dragon was still upset with me.

Up until now I didn't even know that dragons _used_ the grounding method too. I am not joking. After "The Whispering Death Incident", I'd been automatically grounded.

I was confined to the cave (which is the equivalent to my room, I guess) and when I could leave, I couldn't wander further than a few meters. Dragon had to micromanage me when we went to the nearby stream to feed, and—GODSDAMMIT BEING GROUNDED SUCKS!

Stormcutter huffed and shifted his position until his back was facing me. I forced myself to ignore the admittedly entertaining swishing of his tail, and scuttled around him until I was in his face.

This had been going on for some time now. I'd paw at him and he'd turn away. He pretended to be asleep, but I knew he wasn't. I'd try again. It was like a conversation that kept leading up to the same final word.

Forgive me.

No.

Forgive me.

No.

Forgive me.

No.

Forgive me.

No.

Please?

Mmm… No.

Finally I gave up. I was annoyed, and he was stubborn as hell. He made _Mom_ look lenient, really.

Mom…

I shook off that thought and focused on Dragon's tail. As I watched it swish about, I noted that it kinda had the same general shape as mine. Kinda fletching-like, but unlike mine his was frilled at the edges. I must've been really bored if I was noticing details like this.

I batted his tail around for a while because I finally accepted that this was as much attention as Dragon was willing to give me. Every now and then, he'd swipe his tail away, forcing me to work a little harder at it, but he never discouraged me.

…You know, it's really pathetic when the most entertaining activity available is hitting a cat toy.

I played around with it for a while until Dragon suddenly shot up. A growl rumbled out of his throat as a familiar sound started up. I groaned. Not that damn humming again! Shit, I'd thought that that was a one-night thing!

It was still loud and obnoxious as hell. I pawed at my ears, trying to force the noise away. Dragon crooned and nosed me, concerned. I couldn't stop the whine that came out.

Still concerned, Dragon got up and ushered me back into the cave. Was it just me or was the humming getting louder? Dear gods no. Dragon made a series of crooning chirps as I tried to settle in and cover my ears. The unspoken "don't leave the cave" rule hardly even occurred to me before Dragon suddenly disappeared.

* * *

Hiccup

I didn't get a wink of sleep that night. I tossed and turned in my bed, and I couldn't stop reviewing that confrontation in my head. The frustration scared off any sleep I'd have been able to snag.

Things got mercifully distracting when an explosion went off outside the house. I shot up from bed, and smelled the stench of smoke. It didn't have that earthy scent that fire pits emitted, but instead, it smelled sulfurous, almost suffocating. And it was coming from outside.

I threw off my covers and ran down the stairs. The house shivered as its neighbors combusted. I opened the door to take a peek just when a nearby dragon shot a stream of fire in my house's direction. I quickly slammed the door shut and pressed my back to it.

"Oh boy," I groaned. My eyes flickered to the loft before reminding myself that I was alone. I flung the door open and ran out.

Mass chaos as usual sent Viking men and women running out of their houses. A lot of them were already swinging around axes and swords while others were making a beeline for Gobber's smithy. Which is exactly where I'm supposed to be.

It was really weird to maneuver through the mass-hysteria without Toothless dragging me behind him. I felt so exposed. Any dragon could easily pluck me away and no one would notice.

In Dad's place, Mom was in the middle of the town, already shouting orders and urging people to defend the livestock. A large Gronckle tried to bludgeon her from behind, but she ducked and rolled out of the way just in time. A house exploded and its nearby resident screeched indignantly.

The usual shouting for me to get inside ensued, but I finally got to the forge without anyone shoving me towards the house—the house which was now on fire by the way.

I ducked into the forge to meet up with Gobber. "Good morning, Gobber!" I called as I made my way over to the apron hanging on a nearby hook.

"Morn'n! Oh! Now 'ang on!" Gobber snatched away my apron and folded it up. "Don' ye wanna meet up with the others?"

I glanced out the window to see the other recruits coming together nearby the Great Hall where the children were being taken. Oh right. Recruits were put on guard duty.

"Ummm they seem to be doing fine on their own," I said as I slowly reached for my apron.

Gobber however pulled it out of my reach, eyeing me strangely.

I groaned. "Oh c'mon, Gobber!"

"Sorry, 'iccup, ye know the rules," he said as he put away my apron.

"But—"

"Nope; Ah'll hear no whinin' today." He moved from table to table, passing out weapons and setting up a pile to sharpen later. A pile that _I_ could be doing. "As much as I like yer extra hands, ye need to have some field practice, yeh hear?"

And with that he shooed me off. My shoulders slumped and I trudged out of the forge defeated. On the way out, I grabbed an axe from the sharpened pile—it was actually heavier than I could carry with one hand—and I hurried over to the Great Hall. I made it to the stairs just when the last of the children, the Larson boy, I think, trekked into the building. The door slammed shut and I heard the sound of the wedge falling into place from the inside.

I barely nodded a hello to the group as I took my place at the bottom of the stairs with them. Fishlegs and Astrid weren't looking me in the eye, and the twins and Snotlout were too busy stirring up trouble.

"Why can't we join the fight?" Tuffnut complained. He bounced about, full of energy, as his eyes flickered from one burning building to another.

"Yeah I wanna see the explosions up close!" Ruffnut cried.

"We can join," I said, not really caring if they listened to me or not. "But first we need to secure the area for the kids. After that, we can jump into any fight as long as at least two guards are still watching the Great Hall."

"Lame!" Snotlout strutted off, set on jumping into a fight. I sighed and rolled my eyes. An explosion of fire that soon followed only confirmed my suspicions. Reckless, bone-headed cousin.

(Not that I'm really one to talk.)

Meanwhile, the remaining teens and I checked over the area, looking for Zipplebacks or Terrors that might want to break into the Great Hall. Thankfully, there weren't too many problems arising—at least not anything we couldn't rightly blame on the twins

I counted the number of dragons I could spot—I got lost after thirty—and watched as each teen pulled away from the group to help out a fight. Astrid typically went for solo strays that none of the other Vikings were able to nab. Snotlout only wanted to pursue the biggest dragons he could spot. He nearly got roasted for it too, and Fishlegs went in to help any ongoing fights that seemed to be going south fast. The twins disappeared soon after everyone settled into a solid rotation, so I'm guessing that they looked for the nearest roof to climb. May the gods help them if they planned on goading a dragon into blasting them into the sky.

Meanwhile, I stayed by the Great Hall. It was actually pretty weird; all my life I'd wanted to prove myself. If I had the chance, I once thought, I would jump into a fight and do my best to win. But after all this, the idea felt so…empty.

I didn't notice the explosion that went off nearby until it was almost too late.

* * *

Toothless

Eventually that humming sound died off, but what followed was ten times worse. I could see hordes of dragons flying overhead, making their way to the village. I cursed.

Without even thinking it through, I shot off in the direction of the flying dragons. Forget Dragon's punishment, I needed to check on my home.

 _This is a terrible idea,_ Logic screamed. _What happened to lying low, dammit!?_

Lucky for me, we Haddocks are notorious for ignoring that little—

As soon as I caught sight of the flames in the distance, I forced myself to skid to a stop. I hunkered down low and skittered alongside the invisible borders that held me back. My camouflage was extremely helpful here; no one noticed the black dragon hiding _just_ outside the village. Then again, if they had, I doubt that they'd leave their own brawls to chase off a dragon that hasn't caused trouble yet.

Unless they _wanted_ two dragons on their tail, that is.

The destruction was even worse when watching from the outside. Houses were burning down faster than anyone could control, and all the screaming and bellowing war cries blended together into a horrifying symphony. Downed and dead dragons were sprawled on the ground everywhere, and they were being stepped over like mats or used as barricades in certain circumstances. For a dragon, the sight was bone chilling.

I had half a mind to slip into the chaos to look for Hiccup. His absence had been making me worried enough; this was just the tip of the damn iceberg. What if he was bedridden? My eyes darted over to the house which was now smoldering. Gods please no.

I darted toward the house; if Hiccup was trapped I wasn't going to waste time tying to sneak around. Upon reaching the house, I sniffed the air.

Humans have a distinct smell that sets them apart from animals or insects or dragons. It was more…dirty? Iron-ish? Almost rot-like? I couldn't really name it.

Still, I searched for that smell. Nothing. That was a relief.

I was about to go inside, just to be sure, when I noticed some dragons overhead. It wasn't uncommon for the dragons to disappear in random directions during a raid. They were probably taking their loot off to their nest. But I noticed something strange with these dragons; they weren't carrying anything.

Hiccup's clearly a bad influence on me, because, against my better judgment, I decided to follow them.

* * *

Hiccup

I jumped when a Monstrous Nightmare blasted a nearby house. Oh crap. I looked around, hoping that no one was watching me, and then I ducked away from the dragon as quickly and quietly as possible. There was no way I would fight it.

I was watching it rampage through the area, looking for some sort of food inside every house it broke into. Because I was distracted, I didn't notice the second dragon swooping in from behind. That meant, I didn't notice it until it scooped me up in its talons!

I'll admit, I _might_ have screamed a little. The ground was getting further and further away from me. I couldn't tell up from down while the dragon dodged flying bolas and swerved away from uncoordinated dragons. Its talons pinched my arms, and my stomach roiled. Frantic, I looked around for a way out of its talons, but then I realized what dragon this was. Or rather _who_.

"Dragon!?" I exclaimed.

The Stormcutter huffed as it navigated its way through the aerial chaos. Its massive wings beat against the wind, keeping it airborne, and its roar sent other dragons scurrying out of the way.

Meanwhile, I was still trying to talk some sense into him.

"Dragon, you need to put me down!" He huffed. "No, I'm serious. What do you think you're doing!?"

I heard a scream, and then the Vikings below began to throw maces and spears at us! My guess is that they were doing so on the principle that, eventually, they would hit their intended target i.e. Dragon.

…I hope they weren't just _expecting_ me to survive any bruising I might get along the way. Because if that's the case, I am allowed to get ticked with them.

I was jerked around as Dragon dodged flying objects that were getting uncomfortably close to us. He blasted fire at the people below. No one appeared to get hurt, but I didn't think that was the point. He kept the Vikings at bay until he was finally able to drag me out of the line of fire. Then he just kept. On. _Flying_.

 _Mom's gonna kill me when I get back to the village_ , I decided grimly.

For the entire flight, he ignored my fit. I have zero upper body strength, so I couldn't put up much of a fight. I could only kick wildly into the air and shout until my throat became sore.

My mind absently noted that he'd finally caught me—after years of trying to carry me off too. However, I was too irritated to think hard about that. He began to descend once we got deeper into the forest.

A sudden growl rumbled through the air. I quickly realized that it was from Dragon. I glanced up while spitting stray hairs out of my mouth, and I saw his eyes narrow into slits. He suddenly descended faster until we landed in a familiar area.

This was the trail to Toothless's cave. My heart plummeted when I realized what Dragon had sensed. The smell of fire, this far from the village, hung in the air as a pillar of smoke snaked into the dim sky. I hadn't noticed earlier because it was so small, but the pillar thickened as an orange glow began to swell. Without even thinking about it, I broke into a run towards the cave. Dragon shrieked before he grabbed the hem of my shirt.

"Dragon—"

He lifted my flailing form into the air and dropped me into a nearby thicket. I fell with a throaty _oomph!_ , but I was still protesting.

"Toothless is there! Right!? I need to—"

Dragon growled and used his snout to press me back into the thicket. The leaves poked my skin and needled their way through my clothes. My protests shriveled away when he gave me a final huff before dashing off toward the fire.

* * *

Toothless

By the time I returned to the cave, I found those same dragons sniffing around the area. One of them, a Monstrous Nightmare, was nosing its way into my cave while two other Nadders were sniffing around the area where Dragon had been laying a few hours ago.

A spike of anger rushed through me. My mind screamed, _What are they doing in_ my _home!?_

I roared at them, effectively grabbing their attention. Looking back now, I realize that that was stupid of me.

The Nightmare, a lofty creature with a chipped left horn, was apparently the head of the group. It made a low chuttering sound, something that reminded me of a chuckle. A rather foreboding one at that.

I hardly had a chance to react before it charged at me. I ran out of the way, but one of the two Nadders, a purple Nadder with scarlet-tipped spines, had taken into the air, and now it swooped over me. Its talons dug into my scaly hide, creating a burst of pain for the first time since my transformation! I shrieked when another of the Nadders also swooped at me.

I was confused, panicking, and caught triple tasking when the Nightmare started firing at me. My heart pounded as I was nearly struck by a blast of fire from the second Nadder—it was the smaller of the two, but its screech hurt my ears. I watched as the tree next to me burst into flames from the trunk up.

Ohhhhh crap.

I kept ducking and batting at the attacking Nadders as the trio of dragons got more and more aggressive. Red Tip got my left ear, a nick really but too damn close all the same! Then Screech tried to tackle me from behind.

I made a mistake, and I found myself pinned. The Nightmare then decided to pounce on me. It was just like the time I fought with the Whispering Death, but this time I wasn't the one doing the shredding.

This was what I imagined being mauled by a bear felt like. Hooked talons dung into my flesh, and I felt teeth sink into the skin where my left wing connected to my back. I howled. It could have gone on forever, but it also could have only lasted a few minutes.

Then that gods-know-how-heavy pressure was suddenly gone. The two other Nadders leapt away, and I struggled to get back on my feet. I crumbled under my own weight as I heard a familiar roar.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dragon wrestling the Nightmare. It was the Nightmare's turn to howl as it met its match.

Dragon and the Nightmare's brawl was a fierce and wild frenzy. Dragon's eyes were slitted and his thundering roar was terrifying. The Nightmare charged and drove Dragon into a tree. The tree creaked dangerously until Dragon pushed back.

The Nadder, Screech, tried to drag me off, but I wasn't going down that easily. I twisted around until I could bite it back. I think I left a deep bite mark on its face. My head felt dizzy and my back stung from the earlier bite and a cut that felt deep, but I wrestled Screech anyway.

I was mostly defending though.

Red Tip, meanwhile, was trying to decide which fight to join.

Thankfully, my companion soon had the Nightmare pinned, and he let out a powerful roar in its face. When he got off, the Nightmare actually stayed down.

It was apart of the rules of challenge, I would later learn. Dragon saw this as a challenge of territory, and the invaders had no choice but to comply when defeated. Otherwise, Dragon had the right to kill them.

However Dragon's first victory was short lived. Red Tip finally picked its fight and tackled Dragon from behind, issuing its own territorial challenge. Unfortunately for the Nadder, Dragon was bigger and much stronger than Red Tip, so he quickly gained the upper hand.

When it looked like Red Tip was going to loose to Dragon, Screech abandoned me to save its raider buddy. I was too exhausted to chase after it, and I collapsed.

As the adrenaline ebbed away from my system and a roaring pain bowled me over, I watched the Stormcutter struggle against the two Nadders. He opened his great jaw, building up ignition gas before blasting a tornado of fire at one of the two Nadders, Red Tip.

It crashed into a tree, dazed. Red Tip was out just long enough to give Dragon the chance to pin the other Nadder.

Once Screech was pinned, Red Tip shook off the crash and trampled toward Dragon. It roared with wings flared. Dragon, in turn, did the same, and the two began to circle one another.

Suddenly, I felt a hand on my side. I jerked away only for Hiccup—what the hell? _Hiccup!?_ —to shush me. "Don't let them hear," he whispered before we both witnessed the Nadder pounce.

It drove Dragon into the burning tree—like what the Nightmare had done earlier. The tree in turn creaked and sparks flew before the trunk finally gave out. It tumbled to the earth with a broken thud and set others alight. Hiccup winced and tried to help me get away from the fight.

"Are you okay?" Hiccup whispered as he struggled to assist my limping form. He smelled like sweat and smoke. I glared at him before he amended. "Okay, dumb question. But did they draw blood?"

I moaned but tried to shrug. Everywhere stung, but I smelled no blood from myself. We finally got far enough away to avoid the blasts of fire Dragon and Red Tip were throwing at one another. Hiccup started checking on me anyway.

"Let me know if this hurts," he said as he gently ran his hands over my back, "and bark if I get near something that's bugging you."

Several feet from us, the tides had turned in our favor. Dragon pinned the shrieking Nadder to the ground with pinching talons digging into its hide. He roared in its face like he had with the others. But this time, he didn't climb off after. Instead, he then roared at the sky, as though daring the Gods themselves to challenge him.

I could almost image them quivering with fear up in Valhalla.

Afterwards Dragon pushed the Nadder away and lumbered over to us. His body was crouched low to the ground as he growled at the regrouping dragons. The Nightmare growled and grumbled something to Dragon, and Dragon huffed through the nostrils in reply.

The Monstrous Nightmare was the first to fly off followed by Red Tip. Screech shrieked something at Dragon before it disappeared.

Hiccup was still scanning me over for wounds when Dragon started sniffing too. Oh gods no. I tried to push his snout away only for Dragon to murmur a scolding growl. I rolled my eyes but relented. A little.

"Okay. Not much blood so far." Relieved, Hiccup sighed and sat down next to me.

Dragon snuffed his agreement.

"But they'd gotten close," he added as he held up a few scattered, black scales. They were only blemished where the talons had ripped them off. Otherwise they looked like perfect glossy shells.

Hiccup tossed the scales back to the ground and appraised the destruction around us. Trees were alight, and smoke tainted the air. The sunrise looked bloody as squawking dragons overhead flew away from Berk with their prize. This was hardly the same place we'd been living in these past few weeks. It was all ruined.

"Who were those guys?" Hiccup finally asked.

Dragon glared in the direction they'd left. He hissed and grumbled, and his lips curled back into a snarling glower. Whatever he was saying behind his replying growls…didn't sound good.

* * *

 _(hey look! it's longer than usual. that should make up for the wait, right? Right!?)_

 _Reply time!_

 _Guest (chapt. 13): Your review created three consecutive reactions: (1) "Awww that's so sweet!" *blushing*, (2) "OH MY FREAK I'VE BECOME ONE OF **THOSE** AUTHORS! [insert mournful screeching]" and finally (3) "Well he is going to become chief someday so I ship it [*five seconds later…* OH FREAKING FRICK I'VE TURNED INTO CAT NOIR! *more mournful shrieking*] So thank you. Thank you for making my day. And I did fix the spelling mistake (I think) so thanks for pointing that out haha! (I have no clue if that was my bad or my computer's autocorrect at work. I cover my screen whenever I type, so sometimes things autocorrect while I'm not looking.)_

 _thearizona : Yeah, it's certainly getting problematic over here, eh? Hee hee hee if I actually translated their conversation, then we'd get a ton of major spoilers. I'm being so annoyingly sneaky here. _

_—Tenchiko_


	16. Surprise, Skeptics!

_Last Updated: Jul 31_

 _It's Aug. 14._

 _Not too bad for me, I guess._

 _This is a calmer chapter than the past few, but I think that's appropriate. The boys could go for a 3000 word long break._

 _R & R & Enjoy!_

* * *

Toothless

Well, after last night's fiasco, I was surprised to realize that I'd managed to fall asleep. The morning sunlight shimmied into my cave and pressed against my eyelids. As I slowly drifted into consciousness I could feel the burn of my pounding headache and my aching muscles. Hm. Maybe I'd needed the rest more than I'd realized.

I stretched my aching tendons and let out a jaw cracking yawn. I was trying to rub some life back into my face when I suddenly heard a series of weird noises. It sounded like…chittering?

Curious, I crouched low and let my ears flick from one direction to another until I could detect that sound again. When I finally found another round of mouse-like squeaking going off, I became confused. My cave wasn't unfamiliar with rodents per se, but I've never had a nest of them.

I sniffed around, suddenly picking up five different scents. Funny. I hadn't caught a whiff of them last night.

I cocked my head, and my brow furrowed.

This cave was not big enough to hide a cluster of vermin without me finding it.

I noticed the tiny nest-like stack hidden in the darker reaches of the cave. I crept toward it as the squeaking hushed down. I paused for several seconds before finally ripping away the stack with my teeth. The pile splattered apart in chunks of mud, straw, and a miscellanea of other decaying vegetation, but I didn't really notice. I was a little too busy locking eyes with five baby dragons. A Nadder, a Zippleback, a Gronckle, and two Terrible Terrors blinked their infant eyes at me. Some cocked their heads curiously while others were stock still. There was a pause. Then I groaned and buried my face in my paws.

Oh no. This was _way_ worse.

* * *

Hiccup

"Gobber!" I whined. "Seriously, I don't need an escort."

Gobber scoffed as he walked me to the house. "Aye, an' I still 'ave both my hands intact."

We walked through the village during the height of our repair period. Children were chasing after loose livestock while adults were fixing roofs, trading supplies, and hauling humongous bundles of lumber on their shoulders. I ducked under a man who hadn't noticed me as he swung his stack up to his friend on the nearby ladder.

The entire village still had that lingering stench of burnt flesh and ashes, and we still had a few corpses lying around. Dragons, dead livestock, and…others too. I wrinkled my nose in disgust.

Once Gobber and I arrived at the house, I leaned against the doorframe and crossed my arms. "Why does Mom have to blow this out of proportions?" I grumbled.

"Ah she's just do'n her job. An' can ye blame her?"

"I guess not."

My poor mother had apparently freaked out when she spotted Dragon carrying me off. That was about the time everyone started throwing stuff at Dragon and me. By the time we were out of sight, Mom had tried to chase after us, but Gobber had stopped her in time. The raid was far from over, and she'd still been needed to lead as Dad's substitute.

When I finally came back, smelling like soot and my hands covered in some of Toothless's blood, Mom had been in tears. I'm pretty sure my bones still have bruises from that hug. And I have been under "village arrest" ever since.

"Ye gave everyone a scare," Gobber continued on.

I sighed and rubbed my forehead. "I know, I know. And I'm sorry—really." I'm especially sorry since I couldn't give Mom a good explanation behind my miraculous escape. She had looked positively sick when she saw the blood on me. "But I'm fine!" I continued. "It'll take more than that to kill me."

Gobber chuckled. "Don't we know it." He ruffled my hair and slapped my back hard. "Now get in there."

I rolled my eyes but obliged. After a quick, bantering exchange of goodbyes, I slammed the door shut. I pressed my body against the door and let out a deep whooshing sigh.

I really hoped this micromanagement would die off quickly because I desperately needed to meet up with Dragon and Toothless.

I waited until I couldn't hear any activity outside the house. The door creaked as I nudged it open to check. When I didn't see anyone on "Hiccup Watch," I took the chance.

The front door snapped shut, and I made a beeline for the backdoor. I grabbed some medicinal supplies along the way and stuffed it into my satchel. I nearly slipped before I could grab the handle. After another quick check, I was out the door like a flash, and I disappeared into the woods.

Later, I was in the forest, traveling toward the cave. There was something surreal about the walk there. Nothing in nature seemed to be disturbed by last night's events. I could still hear insects and small creeping things running around the forest but out of my sight. Normal. A bird flew overhead with something small in its beak. Also normal. I'd imagined the trees to look paler or more rotted after a destructive night like I'd seen. But they weren't.

I reigned in my train of thought. I had to be careful and pay attention to my surroundings. If someone decided to follow me I needed to know, so I could get rid of them.

I didn't see anyone and I was finally near the cave. You could tell because of all the fallen branches and burnt foliage.

I mentally rehearsed how I would be asking Dragon about Toothless's island when the squawking reached my ears. What on earth? I came into the clearing where the smell of smoke and charred vegetation was finally beginning to disappear. There was no way I was prepared to witness the scene before me.

Dragon was curled up next to the cave entertaining two baby dragons, a Zippleback and a Nadder. Meanwhile, Toothless was flailing around as he tried to get rid of the baby dragons clinging to his back. A little grayish Gronckle and two Terrible Terrors were using his body as a play fort.

If this hadn't been so startling, I would have laughed. Dragon was so calm and in control, but Toothless looked like he was ready to jump into the river!

Eventually, I cleared my throat. "Er…wha-what's going on?"

Everyone's attention snapped to me. The two little ones who'd been with Dragon scrambled into the safety of the cave. Toothless took this opportunity to shake off his own little clingers. As soon as he got rid of them, he scurried away until he was hiding behind me.

I laughed. "What are they too much for you?" I asked.

Toothless glared at me and grumbled something to himself.

"I'm kidding."

He huffed.

I smiled and shook my head. Since he was already within reach, I decided to check up on Toothless and medicate what I could. Dragons heal at a slightly quicker rate than humans, I realized. Some of his wounds had already scabbed over, and they looked okay. But if his scales didn't grow back, Toothless would have plenty of nasty scars to show off.

I lightly traced my hand over the wound where his wings attached to his back and carefully applied some pressure. Toothless flinched away and snapped at me. I pulled my hand back in time, and he growled a warning to me.

"Well, gez, I'm sorry," I said. "But if you're well enough to trample around with a bunch of babies on your back, you should be fine."

Toothless huffed.

I worked in silence while Toothless stood as still as he could.

"So um," I eventually began as I applied some medicine to a particularly bad wound, "What's the story behind these guys?"

Toothless shrugged and nodded over to Dragon.

I made a wild guess. "You brought them here?" I asked.

Dragon bobbed his head.

I frowned. "But where are their parents?"

Dragon made a low moaning sound. He nosed the little Gronckle and looked at it pityingly.

"Oh."

Toothless seemed to figure it out the same time I did. He eyed the Nadder and the Zippleback who were innocently play fighting. I wondered again how old they were. Did they even realize that they were supposed to have their parents with them?

Then something nipped me. It was a quick flash of pressure through my boots, and I noticed it immediately. The perpetrators scampered away from me before I could spot them. Then I caught one peeking over a rock. You think Terrible Terrors are small when they're grown up? This guy could have fit in my hands! Meanwhile, its little accomplice—the one who bit my heel earlier—was now tugging furiously at my boot.

Naturally my first reaction was to jerk my foot away. And naturally, the little heel biter decided to clamp down hard. Infantile growls vibrated out of its throat as it flapped its little wings and held on for dear life.

Things got a little more interesting when the earlier Terror decided to join the fun by biting my other boot.

By the time I got the two to lay off, Toothless had laughed his butt off at my expense. Dragon chuckled over my poor child management while I shooed away the two Terrors. I decided to name them Criminal and Accomplice. They were real trouble makers for their age—whatever that may be.

However old they were, they were apparently old enough to begin flight practice. One by one, Dragon set each of them on the roof of the cave where they began jumping off the ledge. It was a good way to distract them, I guess.

It was a little terrifying the first time I watched them in the act! But can you really blame me? They weren't big or coordinated like their adult counterparts, and they'd shriek when they made a rough landing. I was afraid that the Zippleback's necks would snap on impact.

Toothless watched them practice while Dragon helped them get back to the ledge each time, but I couldn't watch for long. So instead, I decided to start a conversation with Dragon.

"Hey, Dragon," I said. "There's something I need to talk to you about."

Dragon cocked his head and plodded over to me.

I explained the situation I was in and told him about Toothless's island.

He listened patiently, and when I was done, his eyes roamed over to Toothless. Toothless was still watching the flying practice, but his ears were flicked in our direction.

"So do you know about this island?" I finally asked.

After a moment's consideration, he dipped his head into a low nod.

"Can you take us to it?"

He hesitated. Dragon studied me with careful eyes. There was something about the way his eyes met mine that felt…weird. I-I'm not completely sure how to explain it. Maybe it was like de ja vu?

Regardless, after a long time spent thinking, Dragon finally nodded.

* * *

Toothless

To be brutally honest, I didn't really care for this idea. Don't misunderstand—it had some merit, but it was still grasping at straws. And we were going to have to wrestle past a horde of stampeding Gronckles just to grasp this lousy straw.

How did he plan to pull this off? Just disappear one night without any explanation and hope that Mom and Dad won't notice? And what about transportation? Maybe Hiccup could head out with the Stormcutter, but Dragon can't carry both of us. And I can't exactly…

Fly.

…Oh crap. Now I'm the one with the bad idea.

The baby Nadder swerved sharply thanks to a sudden burst of wind and slammed into me. Even the littlest dragons were pretty tough, and this one just hopped back onto its feet and shook itself like a wet dog. No harm done.

It hopped over to me and made a series of squawking sounds. Embarrassingly, I didn't understand it.

Going on a hunch, I picked it up by the tail. It was very vocal about this treatment, but it didn't try to lodge a spine in my mouth. Once I placed it back up with its friends, it chirped. I'm guessing that was a thank you.

As it resumed its earlier shenanigans, I toyed with this downright dumb idea on my own. Predictably, my wings stretched and flexed at will. I followed that with a series of light flaps. Unlike what had happened with the little ones, my body didn't even lift a hair's breadth off the ground.

I felt foolish because I was flapping but not really seeing results. It was too late when I realized that I had drawn an audience. I heard a small screech which I recognized as the _look at me_ call. The perpetrator was one of the Terrors—I think Hiccup named it Accomplice. It did some sort of bobbing dance as it screeched.

I tilted my head. _What?_

It screeched again before scampering back from the ledge a little. It crouched down low, and then it raced toward the edge before jumping off. It flapped furiously, but, alas, it soon tumbled back to the ground.

It shook itself off, perfectly fine. Then it looked up at me and made a chortling squall. I didn't understand until I received a nudge from behind.

I hadn't realized that Dragon and Hiccup had been watching. Oh Gods. If I were still human, I probably wouldn't have been able to hide my reddening face.

Dragon nudged me again before gesturing toward the jump off. I briefly appraised the ledge. It wasn't that high, but it wasn't stupid low either. Gah! It wouldn't hurt to try.

I glared at Hiccup. " _Don't you dare laugh._ "

I climbed up the ledge while the Gronckle had been shoved off by the chortling Zipplebacks. The little dragons all scurried out of the way while I kinda just stood there awkwardly. I stared at the landing area with trepidation.

Hiccup and Dragon were still watching. Crap this is embarrassing. Dammit, dammit, dammit—

"C'mon, give it a try."

I glared at Hiccup. In turn, he rolled his eyes and turned away. I could hear him grumble under his breath, but I didn't dignify it with any reply. Instead, I slowly backed from the ledge a little to give myself a running start.

 _C'mon, Toothless,_ I told myself. _This'll be simple. Just run, jump, and flap, right? This'll be a piece of cake—_

 _And it'll be incredibly embarrassing when you land on your face._

Crap.

Gritting my teeth, I burst into a run and jumped off the ledge before I could scare myself out of it. I flapped furiously, but I crashed and nearly squished the babies. Expertly tucking and rolling myself out of an injury did nothing to save my bruised pride.

I groaned and cracked my eyes open only to see Hiccup crouching over me worriedly. He tried to smile.

"Um…want to try that again?"

Great. Sibling pity.

I tried several more times, failing each time, before Dragon finally took pity on me as well. The language barrier made communication based lessons impossible, but Dragon did his best by taking off at a rather slow rate. Slow crouch, slow run/trot, and great emphasis on jump offs.

Even when the younger dragons were getting better, I was not. The frustration was bubbling up higher and higher as I kept crashing. Hiccup stayed quiet but loudly optimistic, but the very fact that he was watching me fail was embarrassing.

I tried a higher vantage point, a hill. The idea was that I could start a glide downhill before trying to fly. Dragon looked skeptical while Hiccup tried to stay encouraging.

"Go for it!"

I did, but my flight—if that's what you would like to call it—only lasted a few seconds before I lost my balance. This crash was worse than the others because I tumbled down the hill like a runaway wheel. Rocks and prickly plant life dug into my hide before I slammed into a tree.

I think I opened a few wounds.

I shook myself off as Hiccup and the dragons ran to my side.

"Are you alright?" Hiccup asked as he tried to help me up. I was tired and pissed off, so naturally I shoved him away.

I dug at the grass underneath me to give myself some writing space.

Hiccup briefly read it before he replied, "Okay I'll admit that it sucked, but…it wasn't that bad—"

I growled at him.

He backed away with his hands slightly raised, ticking me off even more. Later I'd tell myself that any sort of reaction would have pissed me off. After all, my pride had been basically kicked in the dirt. I hadn't exactly felt like hugging bunnies at the moment. Nevertheless, I hissed at my innocent brother before dashing off into the cave.

* * *

Hiccup

I understood why Toothless was so upset. It really did kinda suck—his flying skills, I mean. But he forgot one huge detail: _He was not born with wings!_ Of course he wouldn't get it right on the first try! Dangit not even the baby dragons were really taking flight like fish to water. This stuff takes time!

So I guess it was up to me to get that through Toothless's thick skull.

In the evening, I returned to the village and went to the smithy where I locked myself away from everyone. In my workroom, I outlined everything I knew about aerodynamics—which wasn't a lot—and jotted down all the dragon data I'd gathered. These new notes soon replaced my old blueprints that were hanging on my cork board.

I blew out a breath of air as I tacked extra notes to my sheets. By the time I was done, my board was covered in a slew of garble to the untrained eye.

This was going to be an…interesting experience.

* * *

 _I swear the little guys will have more significance in the future. I'm building to it._

 _—Tenchiko_


	17. How to Train Your Brother

_Last update: Aug. 14_

 _It's Dec. 17._

 _Finals week has been completed with A's everywhere, so hopefully I'll get more chapters posted soon._

* * *

Toothless

The next day, Hiccup decided to contribute to the cause, and I hated the way he did it. Climbing onto the back of a dragon in the name of discovery should be illegal. But _no_ , that's exactly what he did!

"I'm not going to die!"

" _You don't know that!_ " I snarled back.

He ticked every point off his fingers as he spoke. "I have a rope, I trust Dragon, this fog will cover us, and _you_ need to learn how to fly."

" _Well…we can do it another way_ ," I retorted.

"Sorry what?" Hiccup exaggeratedly cupped his ear with his hand. "I-I can't understand—All I'm hearing is 'Reee kacktrwoo raktaaaahktaaaaah grawwwwwr!"

" _Oh grow up!_ "

"I'm going on the dragon now."

" _What!? NO. Don't you dare—_ "

But he dared. Dragon did nothing to help me either; in fact, he'd been over the moon when Hiccup had asked to fly with him. Traitor. So now here we were, at the cove, allowing Hiccup to die because he's a madman.

Dragon crouched low so Hiccup could climb on. Hiccup skirted past the baby dragons who had gathered around us like a curious audience. After a bit of fumbling, Hiccup managed to wrap the rope around Dragon's neck. It wasn't choking Dragon, but it was not loose enough to make me want to rip Hiccup off of Dragon's back.

Unfortunately.

I growled at Hiccup and Dragon and circled the bigger dragon to make sure nothing was amiss. This horrific idea pissed me off, but it was still my job to make sure it went off without a hitch. Hiccup expertly ignored all my grousing.

"Okay," he said. "I'm ready."

And with that declaration, Dragon was soon off. He blasted into the air, leaving behind the safety of land for the death defying heights of the sky. I craned my neck and watched them become a tiny silhouette in the sky. I think I might have heard some screaming. Shit. I should have pulled Hiccup off while I'd had the chance.

* * *

Hiccup

I was definitely going to get flight sickness after this, and Toothless was definitely going to laugh his dragon butt off at my expense. But before then, I had a front row view of the terror that was flying. Oh Thor. My knuckles turned white, and my nails dug into the heel of my palm as we went higher and higher. I became acutely aware of the fact that the rope was the only thing keeping me on Dragon's back.

Gravity grabbed me and tried to drag me back to the earth where the sane, normal Vikings lived, but there was no way I was letting go of that rope. The wind slapped me in the face, and Dragon's bare back rubbed painfully against my legs.

I _tried_ to pay attention to his flight patterns, but I think my brain jumped off this crazy boat before we could take off. I couldn't really remember what I'd been planning to examine in the first place. Stupidly, I just watched Dragon' wings beat against the wind and air from my peripheral vision.

Eventually, we leveled off (Not that that really did much for my nerves), and I forced myself to stop staring at Dragon's scales and actually look around.

Ohhh boy, I had been missing out on a lot.

The thin fog was draped over the forest, creating a spooky atmosphere below. The land looked beautiful and foreign from up here. It looked like a place where the great warriors of legend would come to meet before a great battle.

From here, I could spot the village. Torchlight dotted the area like stars. I couldn't see anyone from this high up, but I could imagine the noise they were kicking up back there. Even Dad would probably look small from up here, and that's saying something.

"Okay, Dragon…Let's do what we came up here for."

Dragon growled his agreement.

I observed as he maintained his flight and took note of his turns and dips. As much as I trusted Dragon, I still feared for my life when some of his abrupt movements threw me off balance. I was very aware of the subtle changes in his body underneath me. I could see and feel when certain muscles were put to work or when they switched duties as Dragon sliced through the air. I didn't understand everything that was working to help Dragon fly, but I took note of everything that I could.

As soon as I came up with a mantra of information, I signaled Dragon to set us down. The slow, smooth landing was hard to appreciate when Toothless decided to _drag me off Dragon's back by the sleeve of my shirt!_

"What the—" I landed on my back with an "oompf!" and groaned. Warm puffs of air tickled my exposed skin as my mother hen of a bother checked me over. Fighting the laughter was futile—especially after the babies decided to join the fun and climbed on me! I shoved them all off as quickly as I could.

"Off! Off! I'm fine!" I laughed while I tried to pry Criminal off. "You guys are a bunch of moms."

Toothless snorted and rolled his eyes.

I quickly set to work taking down notes. I had to fight off the babies when they tried to steal my journal. I made scribbles and sketches until I couldn't think of anything else to add.

By the time I was finished, Toothless was still glaring at me while the little Gronckle started using him as a play fort.

I grinned, causing Toothless's eyes to narrow. "Ready to go at it again?"

Toothless snarled a firm _No!_

* * *

Toothless

This went on every evening for several days. Once Hiccup felt ready to help me train, we started off with some…controlled flights. The first time we used the rope, Hiccup nearly strangled me by accident. He hadn't been prepared for the amount of slack he needed to give me. The end of the rope that wasn't trying to suffocate me was tethered to a sturdy tree stump, so I wouldn't crash like I had earlier. We practiced at a windy spot where we had some good and some terrible moments.

One day I would figure out how to make a safe landing, but then the next day, I'd smack Hiccup in the face by flying too close to a tree branch as I made a sharp swerve. After I was confident that I could take off and land without creating casualties, we tried turns. I think a few small animals became collateral damage…

My bad.

Some days, Hiccup couldn't make it. On those days, I'd look for him only to find him otherwise occupied in the forest. Once, Astrid had caught him out here, and she refused to leave his side. They try to make small talk, but neither were very good at it. She was making Hiccup nervous, I could tell. I left before I could do something rash to get her off his back.

Another day, it was Fishlegs. He and Hiccup seemed to be warming up to each other again. I can still remember when we were kids, and Hiccup and I could rope Fishlegs into joining us on our misadventures. We never figured out why he stopped hanging out with us. Either his parents didn't like our influence—or at least, Hiccup's bad influence—or we scared him off because we competed for his attention. We sucked at sharing anything, okay?

Anyway on one of those days that he couldn't make it to the cave, I'd caught the two of them wandering around the woods. I could only guess how Fishlegs had found my brother who actively tried to ditch anyone who followed him into the woods. However Hiccup didn't seem to mind the interruption too much. He listened patiently, if not nervously, to Fishlegs as the latter prattled on about dragons, and Hiccup even asked questions every now and then. Some questions he already knew but others he was genuinely curious about. Their interaction seemed so easy, so…normal.

It was a little strange to watch, for some reason. I left quickly afterward.

Another time, the twins might be getting into shenanigans, and Hiccup was stuck keeping them out of trouble. On another occasion, Mom might have tracked him down and dragged him home before he could make it to the cove. Sometimes there would be no sign of him at all.

But he always came back. And he always had a good reason for being late.

Often, the baby dragons thought that our training was a game and got in our way. Thankfully Dragon could always get them out of our hair long enough for us to make some progress. Not that we really minded. I think Hiccup was starting to like them.

I didn't really consider his judgement wise though. Especially after he came by with the saddle.

" _You want me to WHAT!?_ "

Hiccup visibly deflated. "I told you not to freak out."

" _I am not wearing that!_ " I growled.

He rolled his eyes and tried to throw it on, but I shook it off every time. He became exasperated. "Oh come on. I know you hate it, but you'll get used to it. Promise."

I glared at the offending slab of leather. It was not your horse's saddle that's for sure, but it was a saddle nevertheless. The seat was more rounded, and the straps looked weird, and it smelled like wax and soot. I immediately hated it.

While I was busy brooding, Hiccup tried to grab onto me so he could sling the saddle on. Oh Hel no! I threw him off again—he was fine, I'm sure—and made a run for it, nearly tipping over the Zippleback and the Gronckle along the way.

Hiccup growled, scrambled onto his feet, and chased after me. "Hey!" he shouted. "Get back here!"

" _Dream on!_ "

"You need to try this on!"

" _Make me!_ "

"Dragon, help me out!"

" _Dragon, don't you dare—!_ " But he dared.

After he gave Hiccup a chuff—which I think translates to "I'm on it"—I soon found myself being snagged by the tail fins by one traitorous Stormcutter. This was going to be a long day.

* * *

 _And now for guest replies!_

 _twilight sparkle: To begin, I love your name choice. I've only seen bits of MLP with my sister, but it seems like a pretty good series. Also, where were you seeing Hiccstrid moments? When I think of Hiccstrid, I think of cute banter and cuddling. I've only been writing them pushing each other's buttons. So now I'm curious._

 _—Tenchiko_


	18. Daring Flights and Wanderlust

_Last updated: Dec 17._

 _'Tis: Jan 15._

 _Happy new year guys! Here's to hoping I can get more stuff out during the spring semester!_

 _Read & Relax!_

* * *

Hiccup

"—and when the dragon collapsed, everyone just went crazy!"

Toothless listened patiently as I went on. I was bringing him up to speed about life at home.

We were out in the woods again, by the ocean. Toothless and I were standing by a cliff, while Dragon and the babies were a little further back, resting in the sun. The day was pretty calm—which is a gift from the gods here on Berk. The sun was shining, there was a pleasant breeze whispering around us, and I could hear the calm crashing from the waves below us. It's just a really nice day to probably die.

Today, we were taking Toothless's flight training to the next level: flight with a rider. He and I had been practicing for days, but we were always tethered to a tree or something whenever we did so. This time, we would be flying together solo.

With our luck, one of us was probably gonna die.

I tried to shake away the thought, but it lingered in the back of my mind. Rambling to Toothless was sort of helping me vent out some of my nerves, and he always insisted on hearing about my day anyway. I jumped from one subject to another. At one point I was talking about Dragon Training, then later I realized I'd switched over to talking about my day at the forge with Gobber. In my defense, my mind was all over the place—plus, I was busy adjusting Toothless's saddle.

Another change of topic came to mind, but I almost hesitated to start it. "…After classes today, Gobber announced that we were ready for the pre-exams." My fingers paused when I was about to loop one of Toothless's belts into place.

I couldn't help but feel a little…trapped. While I'd been training Toothless, I'd been picking up a few tricks that I used in the Ring. Subduing dragons with chin scratches and sweet smelling grass had gotten them off my back, and it let me get away from classes sooner, but it also drew more attention toward me. At this point, all I wanted was to take care of Toothless—I didn't have time for all this other junk. But nooo, things are never that simple for Hiccup Haddock.

Everyone thinks all my tricks in the Ring are some miracles from the gods—they thought I was becoming more like them. They were expecting me to win. Meanwhile, I just wanted this all to go away.

Toothless nudged me in the head, leaving moisture and warmth from his breath to linger. Even though he now had the face of a dragon, I could still see the human in his eyes. He could probably feel all the worry rolling off of me. I tried to smile.

"C'mon." I flicked his ear. "Let's finish this up."

He nodded.

* * *

Toothless

Once we got to the edge of the cliff, a vast ocean greeted us. If I looked down, I could see the rocky bottom of the cliff. If someone was pushed off this cliff, his body would probably become nothing but a splat of blood and a few limbs.

When Hiccup and I were kids, we would sometimes wander around our house on winter evenings, looking for bugs that had sought refuge from the bitter weather. We had made a game out of it, and sometimes, Dad would encourage us to kill them with our bare palms. We did this to prove which ones Hiccup or I had found first. Sometimes the bugs would still be moving even after we'd struck them.

Now, as I looked down from the cliffside, I suddenly got the horrific image of a human reduced to splat and still trying to crawl away.

I felt a little sick.

"Okay, are you ready?" Hiccup asked as he adjusted his flight gear. It was a leather vest with an extension that tethered him to my saddle. This meant that, essentially, the only things that were keeping my brother on my back were two slabs of leather and some rope.

Crap.

" _You are so gonna die_ ," I growled as he climbed on. I could barely feel him climb onto my back. Sure, he jostled me a little, but my bodily strength was canceling out the effect of any weight he might have.

Hiccup tugged on the rope, and shifted around behind me. "Okay." He placed a hand on my neck. "Everything checks out. Ready to go?"

I grunted. " _Not really._ "

I could almost sense Hiccup rolling his eyes. "Oh, are you still being grouchy?"

" _Oh shut it, Hic._ " I smacked him with my ear. " _My sanity is returning to me._ "

"Don't tell me you're chickening out now!"

We bickered a little more, until we were both in a huff. Finally though, he won the debate. Growling, I backed up a few feet from the cliff. Dragon and the hoard of baby dragons stayed in their sunny, meadow-like area. Even though the Stormcutter watched with rapt interest, the babies were too busy play fighting with one another to notice us.

As soon as I'd backed away far enough, I took a running start. I got closer and closer to the cliff's edge, and I spread out my wings. I could already feel the air gathering under them, prepared to pull me off the ground when I was ready. Unfortunately, I didn't really make it that easy. As soon as the cliff got too close, I started second guessing myself. The heat of the moment vanished, and I was not ready to risk Hiccup's safety like this.

I skidded to a jerky stop, ending my slide waaay too close to the edge. Hiccup shouted "Woah!" as he lost his balance from on top of me.

He grappled for purchase. "What happened?" he asked as I quickly backed up from the cliff.

I strained to see him, and I tried to shake my head. " _This is a terrible idea_."

"Hey." He placed his hand on my head and asked carefully, "Are you okay?"

" _Obviously no_."

Hiccup undid his strap and slid off my back. Once he was by my side, he gave me a look. He nodded to the saddle and said, "C'mon. We need to get off the ground."

Shaking my head, my eyes roamed from the cliff to Hiccup. My mind returned to the thought of the dead bugs. Gods dammit, he be nothing but a mangle of limbs down there if he fell. Would I even be able to find him at all if he fell into the ocean?

No. Nope. There was no way I was doing this. It was too risky.

 _I'll just…tell Dragon that_ he _can carry Hiccup instead,_ I reasoned. _I can handle the supplies and I'll keep working on those solo flights. No problem. Everyone wins, right?_

As I considered all of this, I didn't notice Hiccup walk over to the cliffside. He peered over the edge himself before studying me with _that look_ on his face. It was the look he makes when he's trying to solve a problem in his head. I hate it when he makes that face, and because I didn't notice it, I wouldn't realize what was coming until it was too late.

* * *

Hiccup

Gods, he was being a mother hen again. I'd lived with him for almost fifteen years; no one knew him better than me. It was easy to put two and two together, really.

I was miffed.

We'd been planning this for _days_ now, and I quickly decided that I wasn't going to let him off easy. I had no problem giving him a heart attack if it would make him fly with me. I mustered up all the courage I had.

 _Let's do this._

I casually walked a little closer to the cliff, humming an innocent tune as I did. Dragon was eyeing me cautiously. I smiled and waved before putting my plan into action.

I cupped my hands around my mouth and called, "Hey, Toothless!"

Toothless looked up, and his eyes quickly widened. I couldn't hide the smug look on my face as he took in more of my situation. He could probably already see where this was going.

I looked down the cliff casually and said, "I wonder how long it would take me to reach the bottom." Then, before he could do so much as squawk, I jumped.

It was a suicidal idea, yeah, but in my defense, I needed to work with what I had.

If it's any compensation OH MY GODS, I thought riding Dragon was insane!? I was free falling! In the sky. To my death! Everyone is right: I am insane!

If I was screaming, the howling wind in my ears drowned it out. My fingers became ice, and My stomach churned from that sick, sick, my-body-is-not-on-the-ground-where-it-should-be sensation. My life didn't flash before my eyes or anything, but my entire body was tense, waiting for impact.

I swear, I do trust my brother, but I think a bit of fear-induced doubt was only natural. It was probably a little healthy even.

The rescue took much longer than I'd hoped, but Toothless's screech finally reached my ears. He swooped in and snatched me up with ease. I don't know how I ended up on his back; honestly, I'd thought he'd try to grab me with his talons, but whatever. My fingers shook as I immediately hooked myself into the saddle.

Toothless loudly berated me. He probably said a few things he didn't mean, and I could almost hear every one of his curses. Frankly, I was too relieved to care.

He tried to turn back to land, but I immediately started screaming my protests.

"Wait! Let's keep going!"

He roared.

I think the adrenaline was making my voice shake. "Lo-Look. I know you're mad but—"

An ear piercing shriek cut me off.

I snapped back, "I don't care!" I tried to steer him away from the cliff. "I'm ready! Let's do this!"

We wasted another fifteen minutes arguing. Toothless probably didn't realize that we were still cruising through the air as we shouted at each other over the wind. I don't know when the bickering ended, but soon enough, Toothless was huffily flying through the air—no longer fighting to land us.

As I calmed down, I could look at my surroundings again. As always, I was speechless. I can hardly imagine a more amazing place than up there, in the sky. The world seemed so…so _small_ …but so big at the same time. No matter how far I looked, I couldn't see the edge of the world. Maybe there was none, I realized. Maybe the world went on forever and ever. Maybe there was an infinite number of countries and people out there, and no man would ever be able to meet them all. Suddenly, the Barbaric Archipelago seemed so small, so…insignificant.

Was this wanderlust?

I first heard the word from the traders that stopped by Berk. They used it a lot when they talked about some of the passengers they sometimes transported. I used to love listening to the stories they told. I would hide under the crates with Toothless, listening to the adults talk about the traders's travels. I stopped listening to the stories after Snotlout told me that the traders were only telling tall tales and told me that I was stupid for believing them all.

Now I was thinking about those "tall tales" again. I was thinking about the wanderlust.

We kept going on. As Toothless swooped more and swung around an obstacle course of sea stacks, he began building up speed. I pressed myself closer to his back as he went faster and faster. His streamlined body was perfect for this sort of flying.

Somewhere along the way, Dragon had taken flight, and now he flanked us on our right. Dragon roared to grab Toothless's attention. He then started doing some air tricks, dive bombing and back loops and the like. Toothless was always the competitive one. He copied and succeeded in every challenge Dragon threw at him, and I was cheering him on along the way.

If we'd done this a few weeks back, I'd probably have been sick with fear.

Of course, all things come to an end eventually, but I was still disappointed when we had to land. We'd been in the air longer than I'd realized. The sun was now setting, and it was painting a warm glow over the island and the sky above. We did one last trick before we flew back to the cliffside. My strap had nearly come loose, but I made sure that it went unnoticed.

Once we were back on the island, I nearly stumbled off of Toothless's back.

"Oh. My. Gods." I abandoned the saddle, and ran in front of Toothless. "That was amazing!" I punched him in the shoulder. " _You're_ amazing! We-we actually—gah!"

Toothless pounced on me, and I was on my back with a _thump_!

"Ah gez." I tried to sit up. "What was that for?"

Toothless growled at me. _You damn well know what you did!_ I could imagine his saying.

I scoffed. "You, my friend, are dramatic."

He growled even lower.

"Think you can keep me down, eh?" I smirked before I wrapped my arms around his neck. I couldn't exactly pull him into a headlock like this.

Toothless was not amused.

"C'mon, bud!" I strained myself. "Fight me!"

Instead, he got onto his feet. He was soon on his hind legs, and I was dangling off his neck like some sick trophy necklace.

For a minute there, I thought he might dangle me over the cliff, but no. Instead, he moved us away from the cliff, in the direction of the cave. Dragon soon joined us with the babies in tow.

"Oh c'mon! Are you really that mad?"

He grunted.

" _Toothless_ , don't be a baby!"

Later, I would find myself confined to the cave for the rest of the evening. Mom would kill me for coming home late, and I think that was Toothless's plan all along. It was so worth it.

* * *

 _Honestly, I was going to finish this chapter with Toothless's POV, but he didn't really have much to say. He was peeved, and he had his sweet, sweet, Dragon-inspired revenge._

 _…Plus, he secretly enjoyed getting to fly with his bro (just don't tell Hiccup that.)_

 _twilight sparkle: I will. One of these days... Hm. that's an interesting way of looking at it. Yeah. Then I guess it is._ _*gives you some Italian kisses*_

 _—Tenchiko_


	19. Return of the Boats

_Last updated: Jan 15, 2018_

 _Today is May 3, 2018_

 _...Sue me._

 _((I know it's been a while, but what happened to the dang line divider? I can't find it among the doc manager tools. Until I can resolve this, have some x's between my notes and the actual story))._

 _Read and Relax, and see the end notes for some announcements!  
_

* * *

Hiccup

I raced down the familiar pathway. My heart thundered, and I was possibly trembling, but I couldn't say for sure. The buzzing panic bouncing around in my head was getting in the way. I was practically counting down the seconds spent as I ran for the village. For once I didn't trip or stumble as I sprinted through the untamed landscape.

You're probably wondering what the heck is going wrong this time, am I right? Well…

Let's go back to maybe an hour or so earlier. Toothless and I had been out flying again. My brother was getting better at staying airborne; he no longer made a big deal about carrying me. In fact, I think he enjoyed it. Neither of us were ready to do any stunts or anything yet—we aren't that crazy!—but I was convinced that we were ready to go. Which is great because my time was running out.

"Why do the gods like to put me through the wringer?" I'd asked myself quietly.

We had been in the air for a while by now, gliding over the vast ocean for our trial run. A small bag of basic supplies was strapped to Toothless's saddle, so we could see how much he could carry alongside my own meagre weight.

Toothless crooned, as though asking me, " _What's eating ya?_ "

"Well let's see," I stated before ticking off our issues one finger at a time, "I've accidentally bested everyone in class, Astrid's still ticked with me, at this rate I'm gonna be picked to kill the Nightmare so _there goes my unnoticeable presence_ —oh don't look at me like that!—and if Gothi picks me—"

My ramblings were abruptly cut short when a spear wizzed through the air. I grabbed the saddle to urge Toothless away just in time, but the whoosh of the spear brushed so close to my head. I nearly lost my balance, and my heart began hammering as I looked for the spear's owner.

Toothless growled and his ears perked up as he zeroed in on a speck over the ocean.

"Toothless, pull up," I ordered. "Into the clouds."

Toothless nodded curtly, and we were soon inside the frigid mist and safely out of sight.

I reached into my supply bag to fish out my spyglass, and I tried to train it on the speck. We were too high up to hear anything, but once I made out the boat, the furious faces were easy to see. I recognized a good number of them: Dagmar the Dangerous, Frode the Frightening, Silent Sven's cousin Thunderous Torben…

All of them were Berkians—seasoned warriors who had joined my dad on his hunt.

…

Uh oh.

I followed the lone boat, counting off every head on board.

 _Where were the other boats? How many casualties were there?_

I tallied them up several times until I was sure that every volunteer was accounted for, thank Thor. They were all overcrowding the boat, disheveled and clearly still in battle mode.

Another projectile was thrown in our direction!

"Oh SHOOT!" We barely missed being hit with a bola. "Are you sure we're completely out of sight?"

Indignant, Toothless growled. He was definitely certain, but we had to admit that his black body wasn't easy to hide in a white cloud.

"Okay, I trust you, but…"

I watched as some vikings pointed in our general direction and shouted over to someone. A large form pushed through the crowd to see us better, and I quickly realized that it was—

"Alright, it's time to go," I said, rapidly tapping Toothless's head. " _Now!_ "

Toothless roared in agreement before turning us around. We risked compromising our cloud coverage, but we shot out of there as quickly as possible.

After zipping through the air, we arrived back at the cove in record time. I quickly unhooked my supplies and abandoned them next to a particularly large boulder. Dragon and the little ones welcomed us, of course, but I could barely get out a hello before I ran off. The chirping baby dragons were getting in the way while I made my escape.

"SorryguysgottagettothevillagewegotcaughtIneedtogo!"

My face was like ice from the flight, and my hair was a windswept mess by the time I made it to the village. I tried fixing both while I watched the activity before me. Vikings were milling about as usual, moving livestock and supplies from one place to another. It was wash day, so most of the women were coming to or from their houses, preparing to wipe the mud and blood of the week off their clothes. No one seemed to be running for the docs, thankfully.

I hurried to my house and trampled up the stairs as my thoughts scrambled for purchase in my brain. "Okay okay okay I need to think this through." I combed my fingers through my hair while I talked to myself. "They could have seen me, but—" I paused and sucked in a sharp breath. "They _definitely_ saw Toothless." I started pacing the length of my room in the space between my bed and Toothless's. "Oh _crap_ , this could be a disaster."

I was catastrophizing this, and I knew it. Two sightings of Toothless, on two separate occasions when I'd been careless enough to get him caught, would not be the end of the world. Not as long as either sightings remain unmentioned in the same conversation.

I tried to rationalize: I was too far away. They wouldn't note some random little dragon at sea when there are billions of them out in the world. Even if they did…they wouldn't have seen me. I'm too small. Nobody would be able to put two and two together.

I considered hiding out at the forge with Gobber until the boats came to shore. Hammering away at some scrap of metal sounded like a relief, but would Gobber question my early appearance?

Last time I worked at the smithy, he had dropped a million hints about his concerns. He was starting to catch on too.

So I stayed in the hut, far from everyone else but close enough to hear them spy the boats from the distance. When I heard the first shouts ripple through the village, I peeked out of the hut and took my time walking to the docks. I only needed to be present in case they saw me riding Toothless; it would be a while before people started chattering about things like dragon sightings.

"There ye are, boyo!" Gobber clapped my shoulders from behind, making me jump with a yelp. He laughed gleefully at my expense.

"Glad to see you too, Gobber. Thanks for the heart attack"

Gobber was still chortling as he shook his head. "Ah I was just mess'n around, 'iccup, ye know that."

I rolled my eyes but smiled. "Yeah yeah."

"Yer back a little early, no?"

I tensed. "Oh uh, yeah…yeah I just uh…"

"Yeh ain't lett'n up on yer training when we'r near'n the finish line, are ye?" he asked.

"My wha—"

"Ah no matter!" Gobber interrupted before clapping me on the back. "Yeh made it in time to greet yer father, so I'll let it slide."

"Uh…" Before I could respond, I realized that we'd made it to the docks. The boat my dad was on was approaching, close enough for him to cast the rope to shore. Another viking caught it and tied it to the post before reeling the boat closer.

The unfortunate thing was in even worse shape than I'd thought. It was battered and burnt, and I could see portions of wood that had been bitten, no, _ripped_ off! Dad and a few of the stronger vikings pulled the more injured crew members out of the boat. None of them seemed worse off than some head wounds and new battle scars from claws and teeth. That was a relief. Gothi was ushered through the crowd, and the healer set to work immediately.

"Stoick!"

Mom pushed through the crowd, and Dad turned just in time to catch her into an embrace. I smiled as I watched their reunion. As much as Toothless and I gave them flack about their PDA, this moment was pretty heartwarming in spite of everything else weighing me down.

Gobber gave me a pat on the shoulder before he made his way through the crowd to meet up with my parents.

"They were hit pretty hard this time, huh?"

I jumped at the sudden voice. Astrid smirked. In turn, I slumped, exasperated. "What do you want this time?"

"Nothing," she replied.

I didn't believe her.

She didn't leave my side as more vikings began milling around the beat up boat and crew. Some of the more able-bodied men were already dragging the boat away, and several families were reuniting with members of the crew.

Many, many people began approaching my parents, some with sad eyes and others with a spring in their steps. As I watched them interact without being able to hear a word, Dad looked just as confused as I felt.

"So you came back early today, I see," Astrid said. "Any reason why?"

I shrugged. "I was bored. There was nothing better to do."

"Really?"

"And what about you?" I quickly turned the question back on her. "Shouldn't you still be training?"

She shrugged just as easily. "I can get bored too, you know."

I grunted instead of replying, and we fell into a tense bout of silence. Eventually I caught sight of my parents and Gobber talking, and their expressions became grim. Were they talking about the hunt? The recent dragon attack? Was Mom talking about Toothless?

I felt a pang of guilt about the last one. As though she could sense my thoughts, Astrid's eyes began boring into me again. I tried my best to ignore her.

Dad's eyes trailed over his people as he listened to Mom. Then he caught sight of me. Suddenly self-conscious, I tried to wave back. Gobber, Mom, and Dad exchanged a few more words before Dad beckoned me over.

"Please tell me you'll tell them."

I glanced at Astrid. "There's nothing for me to tell."

"Liar."

"Why do you care?" I finally snapped. "Just leave me alone."

She didn't try to stop me, which I was grateful for. I could guess why she was so determined to catch me red handed. My "improvement" in the Ring might have given me more free time with Toothless, but it was also too suspicious. She was probably just looking for something incriminating that would make me loose credibility in class.

Why she hasn't outright accused me of anything yet is beyond me.

I straightened up as I approached my parents. Dad and I were awkward together at best, and I certainly wasn't going to open the conversation this time around. At least, that was the plan. After a bit of awkward shuffling and attempts at starting from Dad, I cut him some slack and mumbled a half hearted "Hey, Dad."

Dad nodded curtly before placing a hand on my shoulder. It was warm but heavy, burdening in a way. "It seems like we have much to talk about tonight," Dad said.

"Uh…tonight?" I asked.

Mom elaborated. "Your father and I need to tend to the returning warriors." She gestured to the broken ship and the grizzled vikings who were tending to the damages. "After that, there's the village to manage, and…"

"We can talk about Toothless tonight in the Mead Hall," Dad finished. He squeezed my shoulder, which, I guess, was supposed to be comforting? "We'll find him, son. I promise."

I nodded and did my best to avoid eye contact.

XxXxX

The clatter and clamoring of viking men and women was rowdier than normal—and that's saying something. The stench of unwashed bodies was even stronger thanks to the returning party's rank clothes. They were probably still nasty from the decaying guts and blood of dragons they'd killed.

I cringed and shivered.

The heat from everyone's bodies filled up the suddenly compact space. It easily made up for the chill outside.

In the Mead Hall, nobody hesitated to crowd around the returning scouts, looking for tales of dragon killing exploits and other heroic, glorious adventures. The men handled the attention with as much humility as a blue-blooded Roman, and it was easy to pick out the exaggerators among them. Snotlout and the twins listened raptly to one man's obvious tall tale. He was saying he'd fought three angry Scauldrons with nothing but his bare fists and a dead fish. Ruff and Tuff shouted for more gorey stories, and they sometimes dissolved into chanting. They would pound on the table with their fists whenever that happened.

"MORE GORE! MORE GORE!"

 _Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!_

"Could you guys tone it down?" Fishlegs asked as he scooped up his plate and drink to keep them away from the table. He tried to balance his food on his lap, and I soon followed his example when Ruffnut's flailing fist nearly knocked over my cup.

Astrid took it a step further and left the table entirely. Our eyes locked for a moment before we both turned away in a huff. Fishlegs was the only one to notice, and he openly gaped at me.

Snotlout, however, spoke up before Fishlegs could point anything out. "Oh lighten up Fishface!" He punched Fishlegs's shoulder, sending the latter's plate clattering to the ground.

"Aw man…"

I sighed and gave Fishlegs my plate. "I'm not hungry." I quickly excused myself from the table. None of them missed me.

I elbowed my way through the crowd, hoping to slip away while I still could. Everyone was too distracted by blatant fibs and newfound access to mead. They wouldn't be talking about any recent dragon sightings tonight. I didn't hear the words "black" or "dragon" so much as implied in any conversations.

That's fine by me. Besides I'd much rather do some more packing for my trip tonight.

Unfortunately, even though I was small, I couldn't blend in well with this crowd of giants.

"Hiccup!" someone called. It was Mom. She waved me over.

I didn't want to disobey her this evening, so I weaved my way through the crowd towards her. Dad was with her, talking heartily among several of the clan heads and members of the council. He brightened up even more as soon as he spotted me.

"Ah, there you are!" he boomed. "Don't just stand there; come!"

Welp. No running away now.

"Uhhhh…hey, Dad." I waved awkwardly as the other vikings gave me room to sit at the table. "What's going on?"

My dad chuckled. "'What's going on' he asks." Everyone else laughed along with him, and I blushed. He patted me on the back, and his enthusiasm was so great that he nearly sent me toppling. He continued to laugh, oblivious. "What's _going on_ is that I hear that my son is showing some promise."

"Huh?"

"In the Ring, sweetheart," Mom supplied kindly.

"Oh." Right…crap.

"And to think!" Dad continued. "My son, my first born, finally growing into his fighting instincts! Who would've thought!"

The rest of the men and women at the table joined in their chief's joy. They regaled to him all of my "exploits" in the Ring. If you ask me, they made me out to be better and fiercer than I really was. All I ever did was fling some eel and use some dragon nip.

I know that vikings exaggerated their war stories to give a better story and all, but it also made me want to hide under the table. Actually, I probably would have done just that if Mom didn't keep motioning for me to sit up straight.

"I'm so sorry, dear," she murmured under the loud talking around us. "I know this is uncomfortable, but let him enjoy himself, please? He could use a bit of good news—what with the failed hunt and…" she swallowed "your brother on top of that…"

…

Well crud, what was I supposed to say to that? I glanced at my Dad, seeing the clamor and loud laughter in a new light. It… _was_ a little but rowdier than normal…

I had to wonder how Dad was taking it, the blow of a failed scouting trip on top of the loss of a son. …Gods this sucked.

On the other hand…

I gave Mom's hand a quick squeeze.

Until I could get Toothless back to normal, I decided, I could grin and bear the embarrassment. For Dad's sake and Toothless's

* * *

 _Okay so announcements!_

 _1\. I now have a tumblr account! Look for tenchikotheauthor on tumblr to see reblogs of other people's fanart, fan discussions, fanfiction, and other cool stuff covering my favorite fandoms. (Gravity Falls, HTTYD, Fullmetal Alchemist, Rise of the Guardians/Guardians of Childhood, Bendy and the ink Machine, and much much more!) _

_Plus, follow my hashtag #tenchiko tries to write to remain up to date on my writing progress, receive announcements on projects and other related content. Sometimes you'll also be able to see quick shorts and story drafts that I choose to share through Google Drive._

 _2\. The first three chapters of this fic are slated for alteration! Yeah I'm gonna be cleaning it up a little and making the intro a little stronger than it currently is. So enjoy the current versions while they're still here because soon they're gonna be_ outta here _!_

 _3\. After I complete the new alterations, I will be posting this fic on my new AO3 account! I haven't posted anything on there yet, but believe me, I will soon enough. This fic will also begin getting posted on tumblr after the cleanup._

 _Thank you for all your support! The end of part 1 and the next portion of our boys's adventure will be coming in hot, I promise._

 _Reply to twilight sparkle : Glad to hear that the last addition was so relatable! I'm happy to be receiving good feedback on this alternate version of the "test flight". Astrid and Hiccup have been given a more complex relationship in my story, so I can promise you that Astrid will definitely be having more frequent confrontational interactions with him in the future than in the movies. Here's to hoping it suits yer fancy._

 _Oh and I don't really care who does or doesn't know my gender, so for the record EVERYONE I am a **GIRL**. My user name is meant to mimic that of a Japanese female name and therefore combines words from the language (I was an otaku once, okay?). It translates to "Child of Heaven and Earth". And don't worry about it; I've done stranger things. I'm too asexual to really worry about it anyway._

 _ **—Tenchiko**_


	20. The Pre-Exams

_Last updated: May 3_

 _It's currently June 22_

 _I bring you The Pre-exams!_

 _Read and Relax, and see the bottom for MORE announcements_

* * *

Hiccup

Early the next morning, Dad sent our best trackers back into the woods. I hadn't even heard him leave because I'd been sleeping by the time he was gone. I remained half asleep when I'd climbed down the stairs for breakfast. I barely even noticed that Dad was absent until Mom slid a plate of food towards me and said, "Your father won't be joining us this morning."

"Mmmm?" I asked blearily. I picked at my plate before scooping a portion into my mouth.

"He's gone out with a few men to look for Toothless."

I felt my food lodge in my throat. I put a hand to my mouth and used my other to hammer at my chest. I coughed and choked until my throat was scratched raw. Mom rushed to my side and thumped on my back. Hard.

"Are you alright!?" Mom asked quickly.

As soon as my throat became somewhat clear, I said, "Yeah. Sorry." I tried to clear my throat. "He—" I coughed. "He's doing what!?"

Mom frowned, brow furrowed. "He's…out looking for Toothless."

…Oh shoot.

"Sweetheart, are you alright?"

"I need to go!" I pushed back my food, no longer hungry, and jumped out of my chair. "Thanks for the breakfast, but—"

"Stop right there, young man." Mom clasped my arm before I could run out the door. I tried to protest, but Mom herded me back to my chair, saying, "You need to eat up for today, son. You still have your pre-exams, remember?"

"But—"

" _No_ buts." Mom threw up a hand. "I won't hear it. We will enjoy a pleasant breakfast, and we will meet up with your father at the Arena. Understood?"

I floundered as my mind struggled to come up with a good reason to refuse, but I couldn't cobble together anything good.

 _Sorry Toothless._

I dropped into my seat, sullen. " _Fine_."

As soon as I was finished, I was hurried to the Ring where the whole village, and I mean _the whole village_ , was gathering. The streets were empty because almost everyone was already waiting for the show to begin. As I drew near, the noise of their excited chatter rose louder and louder. The Arena's occupants were already in a frenzy. It was all somehow worse than the ruckus the villagers had kicked up last night.

When Dad finally joined us, he and Mom lagged behind and began whispering to each other. I tried not to be obvious, but I slowed until I was close enough to hear snippets of their talk.

"Nothing?" Mom whispered, "Are you sure?"

I felt the tension in my back release as Dad said, "I'm sorry, dear. The forest has nothing but a few roosting Terrors or so. It's like he's vanished into thin air."

Mom didn't say anything for a while until finally, voice broken… "I should have joined you."

"Now none of that," Dad chided. "You've been trying for weeks now—Hey." His voice became even quieter, much to my surprise. "You've done the best you can."

Mom didn't say anything afterwards. A random viking—whose name I can't really remember now—strode past us and called out, "Excitin' day, ainnit, Stoick?" as he passed.

Dad was quick to reply, somehow able to sound jolly. "Aye, certainly is!"

My parents quickly caught up to me, and Dad shifted the subject to focus on my "special day." He was apparently still energized from yesterday's talk, and he went on and on about how thrilled he was.

"Just think!" he said, "If you take down the beasties here, you can move on to the Monstrous Nightmare! Your mother and I are so proud of you, Hiccup."

"Yeah…thanks." I winced at how obviously flat my tone was.

Mom glanced at me, concerned. "Is something the matter, Hiccup?"

"Nothing! Nothing. I'm-I'm just, um," I rubbed the back of my neck. "Tired? Tired. Yeah. Tired. I…didn't get much sleep last night, so…"

"Too excited to sleep, eh?" Dad asked, eyes twinkling. "I know the feeling. Why, I remember when I was your age. Before I took _my_ pre-exams, I—"

My stomach was in knots as I tried my best to both pay attention and tune him out at the same time. More people were around to shout things to me like "Good luck!", "Eager to see ya in the Ring today, Hiccup!" and "I've placed my earnings on you today, Hiccup!"

Yeah, no _pressure_ there.

A cool breeze swept through and traveled down my neck. My chest tightened.

The thought of running into the forest, all the way to Toothless and Dragon, was _incredibly_ tempting. A trip to gods-know-where in the middle of winter was somehow more enticing than a stroll to the beaten, familiar Arena.

Once we entered the Arena, many vikings who saw us stopped their chattering, and the closest ones gave us a pathway through to the gates. Their eyes locked me into the road they set. I moved mechanically under their weight, and I cringed when someone started chanting my name.

"HIC-CUP! HIC-CUP! HIC-CUP!"

It got worse when others started picking it up too.

At the gates, Mom and Dad gave me their final well wishes.

"Alright son," Dad said. His hands were on my shoulders, eyes never leaving mine. "This is it. Be fierce, be fast, and show those beasts who's boss." He gave me one last hearty pat on the back before turning away to take his seat on the throne.

Then it was Mom's turn. Her smile was soft as she asked, "Are you ready?"

I shrugged. "Honestly…"

"No?" There was a knowing glimmer in her eye, and I slumped.

"Not at all."

She nodded. "I wasn't either."

"…How did you deal with it?"

Mom hummed eyes becoming faraway. "I…Well, I had a lot of encouragement."

She reached into her satchel and pulled out a helmet. When she placed it on my head, it dipped over my eyes, much to her amusement. I readjusted it and asked, "What's this?"

"It was supposed to be a birthday present—" She giggled and helped me adjust it. "—but I suppose we can make an exception."

I moved my head from side to side to make sure the helmet wouldn't sink forward again. Thankfully, it didn't. "Wow…Thanks."

Mom put her hand on my shoulder. "I know things have been…overwhelming these days, and we've both been feeling more than a little helpless. But for today—" She nodded in the direction of the crowd. "—don't worry about what they may think. Win or lose, I'm so very proud of you." She tilted her head, eyeing me carefully. "Your brother would tell you the same."

My heart sank and my smile faltered, but I squeezed my mom's hand. "Thanks, Mom."

I almost thought she'd try and hug me, but thankfully she didn't. Heckling is a common staple to these events, and the last thing I needed was to give the others some ammo. Long after she left, I took off my helmet and felt its weight in my hands. Gods I wished I could tell her.

The fact of the matter was, win or lose, I would be leaving. Sooner rather than later.

XxXxX

As Dad settled down the crowd, Gobber lined us up in the center of the Arena. Everyone buzzed with a nervous energy of varying degrees. Fishlegs by far was the most jittery, but the twins were loud, rowdy, and jabbed each other incessantly. Snotlout strutted around like a mangy rooster, which I quickly ignored. Astrid and I locked eyes for a moment before she glared and wheeled her head in the other direction. I tried not to groan.

"Vikings and lasses!" Gobber bellowed out. The crowd simmered, energetic, eager for the show. "In order to decide among these young warriors before ye, t'day we shall begin the prelim'neries!"

The crowd roared. Some began to chant, "DEATH OR GLORY! DEATH OR GLORY!"

 _I'll take a third option, if you please,_ I thought cynically.

Before I knew it, we were put through the first round. The elder, Gothi, was watching from the crowd, and as we fought one dragon after another, she would pick and choose who would move on and who would be disqualified. Surviving each round stole all my attention, but for once, I hoped I would mess up soon enough to be booted out.

For this occasion, Gobber released all the horrors that we'd been facing over these past weeks. For protection, we were left with nothing but our wits, skills, and various tools scattered throughout the stadium. Terrible Terrors, probably caught during our last raid, were released first, and Tuffnut ran away screaming at the sight, much to his sister's delight. The rest of us barely had the time to chuckle before a drove of claws and teeth tore after us.

Tuffnut was livid when he was the first to be disqualified.

After we faced the Zippleback, Fishlegs soon followed. I can't event blame him for forfeiting.

By some miracle, we all survived the first three quarters of our encounter with the Deadly Nadder. Ruffnut does surprisingly well when she's not distracted by her brother (or busy distracting him). But then Tuffnut began trash talking from the sidelines, and her focus flew straight out the window. In ten seconds flat, she went from dodging fire blasts and spine shots like a pro to recklessly charging over to Tuffnut.

"Who are you calling a slug head!?"

"You, _duh_."

"Say that again! I dare you!"

"Slug head! Slug head! Nana nana nah nah!"

They were so loud that it was impossible for the Nadder to miss them. I watched, mildly horrified, from behind a stack of barrels, Snotlout at my side. The dragon cocked its head towards the bickering pair before stalking after Ruffnut. Her back was turned, and she couldn't see it coming.

I hissed out a curse. "She's gonna get herself killed."

Snotlout replied, voice quiet, "Better her than us."

Oblivious to the incoming dragon, the twins continued their madcap quarreling.

"Check it out! This is my impression of you." Tuffnut took slow exaggerated steps and boomed out, even slower, "Loooooook aaaaaaaat meeeeeeeee ruuuuuuuuun!"

Oh, for the love of Thor!

Without really thinking it through, I pulled away from my barricade, Snotlout shouting after me, "Hey! Where are you going? Hiccup!"

 _How fast do I have to go to reach Ruffnut in time?_ I wondered.

Heart hammering as I watched the dragon charge up ignition gas in its mouth, I pushed myself harder. I could see Astrid chasing behind the Nadder, and I could hear her war cry. The dragon was poised to shoot a series of spines after Ruffnut. If Ruff got caught, she'd be pinned down and charred in seconds.

As swiftly as possible, I pulled out a dagger from my belt, and I threw it within the dragon's line of sight. The blade wasn't close enough to hit the dragon, but the distraction opened up an opportunity for Astrid to strike. She slammed the flat of her axe against the dragon, and it screeched, indignant.

I winced. _Sorry, buddy_.

The dragon twisted around until it saw Astrid, but she didn't even flinch. "You looking for a fight!? Huh?" Astrid shouted. "Then come on!"

The dragon chased after Astrid, sending our audience into a frenzy, while I went after Ruffnut. I grabbed Ruff's spear before she could chuck it into the crowd. I didn't even question it; Tuffnut had probably been asking for it. Literally.

"Hey! _Hey!_ Settle down!" I looked between the twins. "Both of you! We still have a dragon on the loose here."

"Oh come on!" Tuffnut cried. "Don't be a killjoy."

"A kill j—" I looked around, indignant and helpless. "You almost got Ruff killed!"

"What?"

"What are you talking about?" Ruffnut asked.

Almost on cue, there was movement in my peripheral. " _Duck!_ " I pushed Ruffnut to the ground. We just barely dodged a succession of spines that could have easily impaled us both. The Nadder's shriek made my ears ring, and Ruffnut elbowed me in the chest.

"What was that—"

Fire slammed into the wall next to us, waves of its heat setting my face aflame. Hypothetically of course. The Nadder was racing towards us. Where the heck was Astrid?

Ruffnut and I looked at each other.

"Run," I deadpanned.

We scrambled to our feet, ready to make a break for it. I scanned the terrain before thoughtlessly tossing her my shield. She caught it and ran while I went to grab her abandoned one. Unfortunately, the Nadder pounced on me before I could get away again. All of its weight slammed me onto my back. A shot of piercing pain rippled throughout my body. I think I might have scraped some skin. I could hear outcry and gasping from the audience.

As the dragon gathered more ignition gas, I quickly scratched under its chin, looking for that sweet spot. My heart raced and my fingers shook as I searched. Relief was sweet when I saw it's eyes dilate, a sure sign that I'd found it. It's head slumped onto my chest, forcing air out of my lungs like a bagpipe. The weight was heavier than I could have imagined.

There was silence throughout the Arena.

I struggled to catch my breath. Once it became less ragged, I wiggled my way out from under the dragon. I was as careful as possible, but the poor creature still groaned. As soon as I was free, I dusted myself off and felt for my helmet.

The crowd broke into a crescendo of cheers, and I jumped. From where I stood, I could see the relief in Mom's eyes and the joy and pride shining in Dad's. I immediately looked away and searched around until I found my helmet. Even after it was back on my head, I wouldn't look in my parent's direction.

Ruffnut was immediately disqualified, much to her chagrin. Tuffnut had the decency to look a little guilty when she joined him on the sidelines. She slumped into the bench next to him with a pout, arms crossed.

From there the exams continued on. Snotlout was disqualified after nearly getting burned to ashes, leaving Astrid and I to face off the Gronckle…and each other.

The crowd was asunder, either cheering for her or for me. The Arena by now smelled, no, _reeked_ of smoke, sulfurous ignition gas, and burning wood and ore. I was completely ragged at this point, and taking a rest on the hard, cold ground sounded _amazing_ at the moment. Meanwhile, Astrid's face was smeared with soot and glistening with sweat. She was rubbing her right shoulder and forced her joints to rotate. Even so, there was a fire in her eyes that had yet to dim. In that moment, I was convinced that it never would.

The Gronckle was fury and hellfire that day. It tore through the Arena and obliterated everything in sight. The crowd went wild after witnessing each exploding box and barrel, and I swear, the twins were screaming the loudest.

Somewhere along the way, Astrid and I found ourselves sharing the same shelter. We barely looked at each other before she became hostile.

"Stay out of my way!" she demanded. "I'm winning this thing."

"No, no, please." I scooted back, hands raised in surrender. "Be my guest."

After there was an explosion that felt a little too close to us, we split up. I found a new place to hide, and glanced back at my parents in the crowd. I caught sight of Dad, grinning and giving me a thumbs up. Meanwhile Mom offered a reassuring smile. I tried to smile back until I noticed the incoming dragon.

"Crap!"

I rushed to find another hiding place, while I could hear men and women shouting and cheering. They yelled things like "Go, Hiccup!" or "Give it to em!" No thank you. With any luck, I could lead the dragon closer to Astrid. She could have the Gronckle to herself.

You lot have been with me for this long, so it shouldn't be surprising when I say that luck was _not_ on my side here. The dragon soon became too close, it's blazing, earthy breath warming my back. Frantic, I felt around my vest's pockets for some Dragon Nip. As soon as I was caught in a corner, I clutched onto a portion, grip tight and aching.

The minute I held it out to the Gronckle, the herb's effect washed over the dragons senses. It's once furious face melted away into something more serene as it slowed. With a fantastic crash, it hit the ground and skidded the rest of the way toward me. By the time it came to a stop, I could feel its hot puffs of air warming my outstretched hand.

It all happened so fast. I didn't realize what I'd done until I saw Astrid standing behind the collapsed dragon. Her axe was still prepped for a brutal attack, and her face morphed from shock to rage. The cheering drowned out all of her shouting, but there was a thundering rush crashing around in my head, stronger than both. I had to get away.

" _Okay_ , I'm gone." I tried to rush toward the Arena gates, but Gobber grabbed me by the collar with his hook before I could get far.

"Now 'old up a moment."

 _Oh shoot_. "I-I really need to—"

Suddenly Astrid was in front of me, breaths heavy and her axe held to my throat. "What!?" she barked. "You need to do _what_ exactly?"

Before I could swallow back my fear let alone answer her, Dad was shouting over the crowd. "Settle down!" he boomed. He gestured to Gothi, whose hunched form stood beside him. "The Elder has decided!"

My heart hammered and my breaths became shaky. I had no choice but to stand next to Astrid, awaiting the elder's fateful decision. My heart was sinking long before Gobber gestured to Astrid. When Gothi shook her head, I knew that praying to the gods for mercy would have been worthless. A chill washed over my body as Gobber offered _me_ to the old woman.

Remember that desire to run I'd felt earlier?

It came back a thousand times worse when she nodded, and the crowd broke into more hollering.

I felt sick. Gods oh gods, what have I done? Astrid's fury was palpable while Gobber threw his arm over my shoulders, shaking me cheerfully. "You did it, boy!" he cried. "You get to kill the dragon!"

 _The gods really did hate me didn't they?_

When the other teens jumped into the Arena, Fishlegs scooped me up and threw me over his shoulders. "Woah, hey!" None of them heard me protest. The group paraded me through the crowd like I was some sort of homecoming hero.

I could distantly hear my dad shout, "That's my boy!"

The entire arena had become a different kind of chaos from moments ago. I felt separate from all of it.

I tried to paste on a smile, but it peeled away just as quickly. "Great, great." My enthusiasm was worth fool's gold, and I knew it. "I am so…"

 _Leaving._

* * *

 _Let's see how well that pans out, kiddo._

 _NOW FOR ANNOUNCEMENTS!_

 _Okay so I have good news and I have bad news! I flipped a coin to pick which comes first, and tails (bad news) came first so let's rip this bandaid off right now: This story is coming to a close soon without a complete resolution. BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE I SWEAR! The good news is, I have a part two in the works because I'm just going on hiatus. Here's why: this story has been going on since 2016. 2 0 1 6! I love this story and I have so many ideas for part two, but it scares me to admit that I'm starting to feel a burnout._

 _Recently I wrote a oneshot for BATIM that's on tumblr right now, and I was surprised to realize that creating that piece really got me excited about writing again. I need to take a break for a bit to recharge and give you guys the best version of this story that I can offer, and I just can't do it like I am right now. I promise, I will give part one an exciting end, so you guys can have that to supply you until part two (which will be given a fresh new entry on my account), and I'll be posting updated versions of past chapters on here and on AO3 under my same name Tenchiko._

 _Again, you can also find me under the name tenchikotheauthor on Tumblr, and my writing tag is #tenchiko tries to write. Follow me on there if you want to see what I'm up to, see other stories and artwork I'm crafting, and ask questions about this universe, my character interpretations, and anything else. I'll even be posting a few oneshots that take place in this universe. I have many ideas and concepts that never made it to the main story, so they'll be fun to write as their own individual drabbles and such._

 _Can I just say that you guys have been amazing? In total this story has had over 9,000 views, and I get such nice comments from you guys (I'm looking at you The Arizona and Twilight Sparkle!) when you have the time to let me know how I'm doing. You guys never cease to amaze me, and I love you all to pieces._

 ** _—Tenchiko_**


	21. Trying to Leave

_Last updated: June 22_

 _It is now: July 31_

 _Finally Toothless is back! And he has the maturity of a nine-year-old. *BIG SHRUG*_

 _Read & Relax_!

* * *

Hiccup

I left as soon as I was sure that most of the population was thoroughly inebriated from all the celebrating. They'd be out of it all night so elbowing my way out of the clamorous crowd was easy. I gathered all my perishables and stuffed them into my basket.

That basket was nestled inside another one that I was going to use to carry the babies. They weren't big enough to survive on their own, so they had to come with us. I went through my checklist, which had long before been memorized. You can never be too sure though.

 _Okay, I think that's everything,_ I eventually decided.

Now for the harder part. I rifled through my journal and tore out a page that I'd been saving for a while now. Although my message was as direct as I could make it, it felt like a bad bolt that I couldn't set in place quite right. It said this:

 _Mom and Dad,_

 _I know this is sudden, but I've decided to go away from Berk for a bit. One way or another, I'm going to bring Toothless back. I promise._

 _Don't go looking for me: I have no clue where I'm going or where I'll end up. I'll be fine. I'm not afraid._

 _I'll be back as soon as I can._

 _—Hiccup_

I placed it on the table but paused for a moment. After a brief debate, I finally snatched my charcoal pencil and added a little not at the end.

 _P.S.,_ it read, _If I'm not back soon enough,_ I hesitated, my heart thrumming. _you can give Astrid the Kill Ring. She deserves it._

I hated myself the minute I wrote it, and my fingers twitched, aching to erase it. That dragon didn't deserve it, but I was already in deep. I hated to imagine the angry riot Dad would have on his hands if the villagers didn't get their promised show before winter.

But was it really worth it?

I offered a quick prayer for the Nightmare before I ran out the door. The guilt clung to me even when I refused to look back to Berk.

XxXxX

The cove's sparkling waterfall was visible from the distance as the sunset's rays clashed against the reflective water. I expected Toothless and Dragon to be nestled next to the pond entertaining the babies, so I was surprised to find the landscape dragon-free. Nothing was nearby except for a few chirping birds.

I entered the cove anyway.

"Guys?" I called. "You here?"

No answer.

That…probably should have been my first red flag.

I continued on, "There's been a change of plans. We're leaving tonight."

I set down my baskets and took a final look over my supplies as I waited for Toothless or Dragon to show up. I fiddled with the straps on my riding gear too.

Then I heard a _scraaaaaaaape_.

I froze.

My eyes trailed upwards, where I heard the sound coming from.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw Astrid Hofferson, in all her terrifying glory, sharpening her axe atop a large boulder.

"Shi—Astrid!" I dropped my basket. "Wha—What are you doing here!?"

She continued to examine her axe. "I wanna know what's going on," she stated.

Her demeanor switched from unsettlingly collected to a sort of anger that just barely simmered on the surface. Eyes blazing, she jumped down from her rock and stalked towards me.

"I am done playing your games, Hiccup," she said. "So here's how this is going to play out."

I hadn't even realized she was cornering me until my back was pressed against the cold rock wall. Her axe's blade almost brushed my neck. I gulped.

She didn't waver for even a moment. "You are either going to answer my questions, or only one of us is _walking_ back to Berk."

I narrowed my eyes. Several scenarios popped up in my head, but which one would get us both out of this satisfied?

"Now," she went on, "Where is—"

Suddenly, there was a massive shriek.

* * *

Toothless

In hindsight, Astrid and I have never gotten along. As kids, she was a bossy spitfire and I followed no one except Hiccup. I was always challenging her and fighting against her orders. It was a stupid rivalry that annoyed the hel out of Hiccup.

So when I saw Astrid cornering Hiccup, I was already ready to tackle her. Dragon and I had hidden when we'd sensed an intruder coming in—there had been a lot more of them since Dad came back to the island—but my eyes soon zeroed in on the axe and Hiccup. Dragon couldn't even think to snatch me by my tail by the time I jumped over the cove's ledge with a massive roar.

My feet slammed onto the ground, but I ignored the shaky ache before running in. Astrid and Hiccup snapped their heads in my direction. Astrid's eyes widened.

"Get down!" she shouted as she pushed Hiccup to the ground.

When a fireball didn't fly over their heads— _As if I was that stupid_ —she looked up. She roughly helped Hiccup up before shoving him towards the exit hole. "Go! Run!" I heard her order.

She turned towards me. I was coming in fast. Her axe was raised. My muscles were wound tight. I was ready to crush her axe at the hilt. I barely noticed Hiccup running in.

"Guys, stop!" he shouted as he jumped in between us. "Stop!"

Astrid nearly struck Hiccup with her axe, and my throat suddenly felt hot at the sight. Hiccup dodged just in time, but that didn't subside my anger.

Astrid was reeling. "Hiccup! What—"

"Toothless, stop!" Hiccup shouted. "It's okay! It's Astrid, remember? It's just Astrid!"

He blocked my every attempt to dodge around him. I wanted to get to Astrid and…do something! I don't even know what. Not anymore at least.

"Toothless—Hey!" Hiccup grabbed the my face and forced eye contact. "Just calm down for a minute okay? It's Astrid, bud. It's just Astrid."

I struggled to take a deep breath and let it out. Hiccup's hair got ruffled from my exhale.

"What the…" Astrid's voice quickly warped my attempt at calming down.

Hiccup winced as I tensed up. We broke contact as he tried to give her a reassuring smile.

"Sorry about that," he said, "You just freaked him out a little."

I shot him a quick glare, and he elbowed me.

"I freaked _him_ out!?" She was shaking her head and slowly backed away from us. Good. "And just who—… _who_ is _him_!?"

I turned my narrowed eyes on to her, still fuming. Meanwhile, Hiccup chuckled nervously.

"Well, that's a, uh, funny story." He rubbed the back of his head and chuckled. "This is gonna sound crazy, but um…" He hesitated. "Astrid, this is…Toothless."

I saw her mouth my name as her eyes became a touch wider. I shuffled my feet, suddenly restless under her scrutiny.

It took her a moment to settle on one statement. "That's a dragon."

Hiccup nodded and shrugged. "It's, um…it's a bit of a long story. I—"

She was already backing away from us even faster. "You're out of your mind," she stated before breaking into a run.

She vaulted for the exit, leaving Hiccup frozen in place.

By the time she was almost out of the cove, a mere shadow in the distance, Hiccup's delayed reaction finally kicked in.

"Welp." He popped his _p_. "We're dead."

I snorted. No shit.

"What the heck was that about?" Hiccup immediately turned to me, arms crossed.

I jerked back, eyes wide and surprised. I looked from him to Astrid's retreating form. She was already over the cove's ledge.

I looked at Hiccup and narrowed my eyes.

He was having none of it. "I had it handled. Now she's gonna tell everything in the village."

Crap. My ears immediately pressed back against my head.

He groaned. "C'mon. Let's go get her."

XxXxX

By the time we were in the air, Astrid had cleared a good quarter mile. She was jumping over logs and stumbling under low hanging branches. Swooping in, I plucked her out of the air as she jumped over a drop off in the landscape. My talons might have pinched her arms, but I didn't care.

She was screaming, and even though I couldn't make out any words with the wind in my ears, I took dark pleasure in her fear.

Hiccup steered us towards a particularly high tree. I caught on fast enough to begrudgingly drop her into the closest branch. It had seemed stable enough to me. She shrieked the minute I let her go, and she grappled with the branch.

She was _fine_ , I swear.

My landing jostled the tree far more than it should have. Hiccup grunted as he tried to maintain his balance. He swatted one of my ears, but I rolled my eyes and swatted him back.

Finally, I could hear Astrid's words.

"Hiccup!" she screamed. "You better let me down, or I swear—"

"You have to give me a chance to explain," Hiccup replied.

"I've heard enough, you madman!"

I growled.

"About the dragon," Hiccup asked, calmly, "or about Toothless?"

"Does it matter?" She tried to pull herself up onto the branch, but it was too reedy. She kept slipping. "You're crazy, and _that_ —" She pointed at me. "—is not your brother!"

I glared at her, that hot feeling in my throat returning. Hiccup didn't reply for a long time. The air was tense and the trees around us shuffled and squirmed. The wind was probably chilling both Hiccup and Astrid.

I hadn't exactly cooled down, but I was more leveled out now. I looked Astrid up and down. She looked…exactly the same. Dirty braid, set scowl, and armor designed to wall away pretty much everybody.

What the hel does Hiccup see in her?

And why the hel did I expect her to look any different?

"What if I can prove it?" Hiccup suddenly asked. "Will you hear me out?"

He offered her his hand. She stayed silent but eventually gave in. She swatted away his hand and grabbed at my saddle. I wanted to shoulder her off, but I knew Hiccup would get pissed if I let her fall. I just barely felt the additional weight as she settled in behind Hiccup.

"Now, get me down," she eventually said.

Hiccup sighed. "You heard the lady."

 _Damn right I did_ , I thought to myself, _and I'll sure as hel get her down._

I stretched out my wings, preparing to launch.

Hiccup was saying, "See, it's not so bad." But he never got to finish his sentence before I shot off.

* * *

Hiccup

My brother is a jerk.

When Toothless shot into the sky, Astrid's hold around my waist suddenly became a chokehold. I grappled with the saddle until I could get it into a more secure hold. I could already feel the ache in my fisted hands. Toothless went in for a dive bomb. My ears began to ring as Astrid was screaming.

"TOOTHLESS!" I shouted. "WHAT IN ODIN'S NAME—"

We barely kissed the grass by the time he pulled up. Then we were shooting towards the setting sun. The trees were soon beneath us. I tried to signal to Toothless, but he wouldn't stop.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

"C'MON, BUD, SLOW DOWN!"

I turned back, about to explain myself to Astrid. However, the words shriveled up and died on my tongue. There was a silhouette in the distance. My heart dropped when I recognized it. Dragon.

Astrid looked back, and her breath hitched.

"WHO THE HELL IS THAT!?"

"A FRIEND, I SWEAR!"

Dragon then decided to our chaotic party. He flew closer, his grin draconic and anything but reassuring. Astrid shrunk away. I was unimpressed with Dragon. Her hold on me somehow got stronger.

"THAT'S A _DRAGON_!"

"YEAH, AND YOU'RE RIDING ONE!"

"OH MY _GODS_!"

I sighed. Dragon's wings almost touched Toothless's. He blocked the sun and dwarfed us all. His eyes skimmed over Astrid. There was a gleam there that set me on edge.

"NO, DRAGON, DON'T YOU DARE!"

But he dared. He and Toothless shared a brief nod. Suddenly, they were jumping in and out of clouds. I was chilled to the bone as they performed loop de loops. They swooped and dove over the ocean. One of my icy hands was soon gripping one of Astrid's. Hers was shaking.

My friends are idiots.

This went on for an unnecessarily long time. I was about ready to shout at them to CALM THE HEL DOWN, DAMMIT, but Astrid beat me to it.

Kinda.

"OKAY, OKAY! I'M SORRY!" she cried. "I'M SORRY!" She buried her face in my back. "I'm sorry. …Just get me down from here."

Suddenly, Toothless leveled out, and we slowed. I felt a rush of gratitude when Dragon went back to flanking us. Even if he was still grinning at us, amused.

Without the fear of death via dragon ride hanging over us, Astrid finally loosened her hold. I relished the relief on my ribcage and soaked in the scenery. Warm reds and oranges splashed across the sky. The sunlight cast a colorful glow over the ocean's surface and the rock pillars that inched by the shore. The clouds had a pinkish hue that morphed into a more subtle orange when Toothless flew closer to one of them. Astrid let one arm pull away from me long enough to touch the misty mass. The chill didn't even bother me when she brought down her now-frosty wet hand.

It was…amazing to see her. I was drawn in by the way her eyes widened in wonder and the way they flickered from one place to another. I don't think I'd ever seen such childlike wonder on her before. A small smile tugged at her lips.

How long had it been since I last saw her look so beautiful?

Astrid shook her head in awestruck disbelief. "Okay, fine!" she finally said. "I'll admit it: This is pretty cool."

"Glad to hear it."

"You're still crazy."

"Aaaand there's the Astrid I know," I teased.

She smirked and flicked the back of my head. Then she looked around. Brimming stars were beginning to peek out of the dark blanket that was spreading over the sky.

"This…" Astrid said, "it's…amazing. He's amazing."

A peaceful silence settled between us. Toothless and Dragon started communicating with short growls and snuffs as we flew on. Soon the sky was completely dark, and I was acutely aware of how off schedule I was.

 _This is going to be a long night_ , I thought.

And boy, was I gonna hate being right.

* * *

 _This ended up getting too long, so I have some extra content that will end up going into the next chapter. I'm gonna be posting it on Tumblr as "sneak peak" content. You can find me at tenchikotheauthor on Tumblr._

Here's _a hilarious fact, I have Grammarly loaded onto my computer, and it registers "_ axe _" as the incorrect spelling of the word. Why? Because it's the European spelling. *looks at the geographical location of Berk* There's a reason I spell it that way, Grammarly._

 _EDIT: forgot to answer guest reviews!_

 _Twilight sparkle:_ _Happy to hear you enjoyed the last chapter! Dude that's awesome! I'm happy to hear that. My face became a hot tomato when I read that. Yeaaaaah you saw what happened. This is one of those parts of the story I had planned from the get-go, so it stayed fairly true to the source material. However, I did my best to keep it original at the same time._

 _And YES! Make coffee! Drink it as you read this! That is the_ ** _ideal_** _setup I want my readers to enjoy as they read my stories. That makes me so happy to hear!_

 _Glad to hear you like the hook (by hook you mean the story summary, right?). I've been thinking about tweaking it a little, but I'm glad to hear that you like it._

 _I did end up creating a Wattpad account by accident recently, but I have no plans to use it for anything other than reviewing my friend KTMB's works. She's the author behind Katherine and the Truth About Jack (shameless friend plug) and it's really good! She updates every Friday, so if you like Rise of the Guardians and the Guardians of Childhood books, I seriously recommend it. Thanks again for the review!_

 ** _— Tenchiko_**


	22. Shit! Hang on, Hiccup!

_Last updated: Jul. 21_

 _It's currently: Aug. 15_

 _...wow that's not too bad._

 _So hey._

 _Remember when I said_ this'll _be the last chapter before I take off on hiatus? Weeeeeeell it got too long. So ONE MORE CHAPTER, I SWEAR!_

 _Read & Relax...if you can. _

* * *

Hiccup

Eventually, we descended into the area where the cave was hidden away. By this time, the sky was almost completely dark.

"So the Stormcutter," Astrid finally began.

"A friend."

"Since when?"

Toothless carefully started coming in for a landing while Dragon broke away and left our group. I had to guess that he was heading back to the cove.

I shrugged. "Since Toothless turned into…this." I gestured to him.

Toothless turned his sharp eyes to me. As soon as Astrid climbed off his back, he threw me off. I landed on my back with a hard _oomf!_ I could already feel an ache as I sat up.

"Really, bud?" I asked as he huffed. I rolled my eyes. "You know I don't mean it like that—"

"Hiccup, listen to me." Astrid's tone became severe. "This…dragon is incredible and all…" She sounded like a parent trying to explain to her kid why trolls aren't real. "But…you need to realize that this dragon's not—"

"My brother?" I asked sharply. She bit her lip but glared. I sighed. "Astrid—"

"Look, I know you miss him," she said quickly, sitting down next to me, "but what you did was dangerous. What if this dragon had really been hostile?"

"Astrid."

"You could have died!"

My expression remained flat. "Astrid."

"Your mother already lost one son. I can't _believe_ you'd risk—"

"Astrid!"

"What!?"

I sighed and shook my head. "I _know_ this is Toothless. There's no doubt in my mind—never has been."

"Hiccup—"

"No, please listen." I crossed my arms and leaned next to Toothless. "When he got sick…"

The memory of his arms, covered in scales, flashed in my mind.

"He was already turning. I realize that now. By the time I found him, it was too late."

Toothless crooned and nudged my shoulder. I gave him a brief smile before elbowing him back. Astrid then looked up at Toothless who returned her gaze. At least he didn't seem angry anymore—just weary.

Ignoring this, I continued explaining. "I've looked everywhere for an answer. Something scientific, or supernatural, or magical, but I've got nothing!"

"Have you asked Gothi?"

I shook my head. "Can't. There are too many ears in the village—too many dragon-killers." Toothless placed his chin on my head, and I reached up to pat his face. "It's not worth the risk."

Astrid didn't reply. I don't know if she necessarily believed me, but after a pause, she nodded anyway. She didn't challenge me, so I didn't feel the need to prove it to her anymore. Instead, I stood up and walked over to Toothless's saddle.

"Look, I understand if you still think I'm crazy."

My fingers fiddled with the straps. Tying up my extra supplies wasn't gonna be easy. I didn't have an extra set of reigns for Dragon.

"But I'm leaving."

"What!?"

"Just for a while," I reassured her. I stopped playing with the straps and faced Astrid. Leaning against Toothless, I crossed my arms. "I need answers, and they're just—" I shrugged and gestured to the forest around us. "—not here."

"But—"

Suddenly Toothless stiffened. His ears were perked, and a growl rumbled out of his chest. If he'd been a cat, I was sure his hackles would have been rising. As it was, his slitted eyes were glaring at the sky and his lips curled back to show off his sharp teeth.

There wasn't even a wisp of wind, but a chill still slithered down my spine. I looked around as I felt my muscles tense.

"Toothless?" I asked, my voice low.

Astrid was soon back to back with me. "What's going on?" she whispered.

"I dunno." From my peripheral, I saw Toothless prepping to launch, legs bent and body low. I quickly grabbed Astrid's hand. "Let's find out!"

She climbed back onto Toothless's back without a fuss. He didn't move as we climbed on, and he barely shifted as we settled our weight on him. I could feel every coiled muscle beneath me as he slowly lowered into a crouch.

He burst into a run. Astrid and I held on tight. Then he launched into the air, wings spread like a second cloak of the nighttime sky. My hold on the saddle tightened.

 _Oh yeah, this'll be fine_ , I told myself. _What could possibly go wrong?_

* * *

Toothless

Famous last words, Hiccup…

* * *

Hiccup

One disaster after another followed our exit from the cave.

I didn't question the outright stupidity of our decision until Berk's shores were faaaaar behind us. The sea stacks around us gradually became more and more unfamiliar. The wind nipped us and taunted us with quiet whispers.

Toothless's eyes flicked and shifted around in the dark, and he jumped every time Astrid or I would move around. His ears would twitch from every rustle of fabric and every puff of air.

Then the fog rolled in. Suddenly, we were blind.

After a few minutes of seemingly aimless flying, Astrid tensed and tugged on the back of my shirt. She pointed to a silhouette in the distance behind us. My heart thumped.

"Toothless," I whispered.

His head snapped in my direction, and I pointed. His eyes went wide and then narrowed. He growled.

The silhouette came closer. Then it got bigger. Astrid's hold around my waist tightened.

Finally, the form behind the silhouette burst through the clouds!

Toothless jerked away on instinct, and I nearly fell off his back.

So you can imagine our collective outrage when we quickly recognized the dragon. Owlish eyes from a friendly, smiling face greeted us, as Dragon cocked his head at us innocently. He chirped hello.

"What the—DRAGON!"

"What the hel!?"

Toothless screeched indignantly.

Dragon chuckled at our expense while Toothless continued to shriek. He was probably cursing out Dragon from head to toe. That had always been his specialty in pirate training…

The light moment was killed immediately when both dragons tensed again. Toothless's ears flicked up, and Dragon's laughing died off. The latter dragon suddenly looked back, and Astrid gasped.

The tension returned like a rumble of thunder. More dragons entered into the fog. And when I say more, I mean enough dragons to overrun Berk in a single raid. Long ones, and short ones, and thin ones, and multiple-headed ones flew together in a massive drove. I could pick out the five common dragons alongside others I couldn't easily name. Their eyes reflected the moonlight.

Something squirming in my gut twisted and churned. Dragon barked and tried to push us out of the way, but the drove was faster than they appeared. We were swept up in the crowd in an instant. Soon I could feel glowing eyes blinking at me while Dragon flew close to us.

"More friends of yours?" Astrid asked, in disbelief.

I swallowed and shook my head. "No." I leaned close to my brother's ear. "Toothless, we have to get outta here."

Toothless nodded. Dragon growled at the surrounding dragons while Toothless tried to break away from them. We'd barely moved a foot away from them before one of them swooped at us. I shouted as the chilling tailwind swept through my hair. Astrid and I pressed close to Toothless's back as another dragon joined the first. Toothless shrieked at the offenders who growled right back at him.

A heavy dragon next to us rammed into Toothless's side. The dragon smashed my left leg in between them, and I yelped. My leg buzzed with a stinging pain, but nothing _felt_ broken. I couldn't exactly check on it.

I tried to stifle a hiss that Toothless _definitely_ heard.

"Hiccup!" Astrid exclaimed. She looked at my leg, which I had proceeded to curl inward. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I replied, my voice strained. "I'm fine."

Toothless narrowed his eyes. He growled and snapped at the offending dragon who only pushed him back into the drove again. After that, he didn't try to escape.

…Well sh—

* * *

Toothless

Shit.

Shit, shit, shit!

 _Shit_ became my new mantra as I tried to find another escape.

Slitted eyes were on us from every side, boxing us in. The buzzing was still knocking around in my ears, and the claustrophobia on top of that was setting me on edge. I wanted to fly away as fast as possible, but I couldn't. One wrong move and we would have been dead meat.

Shit.

Dragon's eyes were also darting from place to place. He took in the same roadblocks I was seeing. I watched and growled every time a dragon would get closer. My eyes lingered on one Zippleback in front of me that was bearing something large in its talons. My nose twitched as I singled out the lump's fusty, thick stench.

Meanwhile, I tried to tune out the droning hum. I let my eyes roam from every other dragon around us.

 _They were_ all _toting something in their talons_ , I stupidly realized.

"What are they carrying?" I heard Astrid ask.

Good question.

I struggled to make out more than the general shape of the Zippleback's…possession. My eyes widened after they adjusted well enough, and I could register what the lump was. It was some kind of animal, dead and dangling in the Zippleback's claws. It was fresh too—not a hint of rot tainted its musty odor.

"They're bringing in their kill," Hiccup answered, "I think."

"Um…what does that make _us_?"

Shit, shit, shit, shit, _shit_!

The noise had gradually become overwhelming. My clenched teeth were vibrating as we were nearing the source of the drone. From the front of the drove, I saw the dragons begin to swoop downward as a group. Oh shit.

Hiccup and Astrid screamed as soon as the wave finally reached us, and I was swept into the current of dragons.

From behind us, more dragons were joining our already immense parade. They were pooling in from all over.

Shit, shit, shit! Godsdammit! Shit!

Dragon snuffed. He nodded upward which was my only warning before he opened his jaw. It started to fill up with ignition gas. The sulfurous stench swept past my nose, and a foreboding wave of trepidation rippled under my scales.

Now, what I would like to say is that I flew out of the way, Dragon shot a stream of hurricane fire through the drove, and we escaped through the created opening without anything other than a brief dogfight or an epic chase following us.

But then I'd be lying.

Here's what really happened:

I flew out of the way, but in order to shoot upward, I had to slow down. Because of that, I slammed right into a dragon that had been right behind me. To add insult to injury, this dragon…was a Gronckle.

Admittedly, the dragon had also been flying slowly. The impact's force hadn't been crushing, _but_ I was still sent into a disoriented loop. I momentarily started falling while Hiccup and Astrid started screaming.

I struggled to flap hard enough to regain my balance. Eventually, my equilibrium returned, but by then, I looked down and saw Hiccup and Astrid.

 _Underneath me_.

Falling.

To their deaths.

…

SHIT!

I shrieked out a slew of curses and took a sharp dive. Little did I know that another dragon had spotted my fallen cargo. I plucked one of them in my talons, but the other dragon swooped in and snatched up my second charge!

After a quick look at the retreating beast, I knew that it hadn't been Dragon. It was too skinny.

Looking _down_ , I realized that the human in my talons was too blonde to be Hiccup.

Shit!

"Hiccup!"

" _HICCUP!_ "

"GUYS!"

* * *

Hiccup

Why the hel do dragons like to carry off twig boys? I probably don't even taste that good.

My captor was a Deadly Nadder. Red Tip or Screech quickly came to mind, but then I took note of this Nadder's colors. The fog hindered the light quality, but I was certain that the dragon was some sort of cool color. Blue maybe? Purple? The hue was too dark to say for certain.

The dragon ignored my kicking and screaming, and it carried me into a gaping hole that led into a volcano. Yes, you heard me. A volcano.

Oh, crap.

I couldn't see Toothless, or Astrid, or Dragon, and the Nadder powered through the drove to get inside the soonest. It followed the steep drop off before it could ascend into the core. I screamed as my stomach did acrobatics inside my body.

Once the terrifying entrance was over with, the interior's size left me speechless. This place was _old_. Thick stalactites and stalagmites littered the cavern, and the rocks and boulders were worn with age. Long, elaborate cracks climbed up the walls like ancient spider webs.

The thick, smoldering air scorched my throat.

"What my dad wouldn't give to see this…" I murmured in awe.

Hordes of dragons were perched along the cliffside walls. Some flew over my head and others flew in behind us. The center of the volcano had big maw that glowed from a heat source I couldn't see. Lava, I assumed.

Okay, sightseeing time is over.

I struggled in the dragon's grip, but I was trapped by both arms. Getting away was impossible.

The dragon entered a long single-file line that led to the aforementioned center. The waves of heat from the glowing core burned against my skin, and cold sweat was starting to accumulate at my brow. I struggled to make out what was at the heart of the glow. Once I did, my heart dropped down to my stomach.

What. The hel.

"…Shit."

* * *

Congratulations _! You have unlocked: **The Nest**!_

 _Give the boys some cookies._

 _EDIT: *INHALES DEEPLY* I'm so sorry, Twilight, I keep forgetting to write my answer for your reviews. Lo siento, mi amiga. Soooo uh thank you for the review, and yeah, my user name is Tenchiko just like on here. Again, I will never use Wattpad, but I don't mind if you follow me anyway. Just know that what you see is what you get. Yeaaaah hopefully a few secrets will be revealed NEXT TIME ON DRAGON BOY! Thank you again for the review!_

 ** _—Tenchiko_**


	23. RUN AWAY!

_Last Updated Aug. 15_

 _It's Oct. 3_

 _Sorry,_ _this one took so long_. _I just really wanted to go out with a bang_.

* * *

Toothless

I was frantic. Astrid didn't get the chance to climb back onto my saddle before I shot after the other dragon. Dragon let out a furious roar the moment he'd caught on too. His size let him plow through the crowd, and Astrid and I followed behind him. The dragon with my brother was fast, and it slithered through the drove before slipping completely out of my sight.

Shit. Shit! Shit! Shit! Godsdammit! Sh—

"Hey, uh…Toothless," Astrid whispered.

Her hand stretched into my peripheral. She was pointing to a deep hole along the volcano's slope. The dragons were all streaming into it like some waterfall moving in reverse. I narrowed my eyes while I followed her moving finger. I pushed on into the current, searching for what she could see but I couldn't, and we entered into the mouth of the Nest.

Astrid gasped but I kept my eyes trained on Dragon's tail. The dark walls, the stench of decay, and the dragon's musk were about as much as I needed to know about this dump. Once the throat opened up to the Nest's stomach, the glowing lava's heat was breathing underneath my scales. The smoke made my eyes water.

Dragon dropped at the end of the neck, barely toeing along the cave's edge.

"What's he doing?" Astrid asked.

As soon as I broke out of the current, I turned around and barked, _What are you doing?_ I jerked my head back. _Get over here!_

Dragon looked at me before giving the Nest's heart a weary growl.

 _I don't like it here_.

What the hell's that supposed to mean?

I opened my mouth to try again, but Astrid started tapping my head. "Toothless, look at that."

She motioned towards the line of dragons gathered around the Nest's center where a massive hole swallowed up most of the floor level. I squinted. They all carried game in their talons, and one by one, they…were dropping it… _into the hole_.

 _What a waste!_ I thought, indignant.

"They're not eating any of it."

 _Why those little_ —

 ** _INTRUDER._**

A dark pit suddenly opened my stomach. A strange press against the back of my head suddenly expanded, and I heard a buzzing in my ears.

In the distance, a little Gronckle buzzed towards the hole without any game in its talons. My stomach churned. My eyes followed its journey. My muscles tightened.

 **FAILURE.**

The Gronckle trundled onward. That pit filled with ink.

 ** _NIGHT FURY._**

A shiver _crawled_ down my spine.

 **SEE** ** _._**

It hovered over the hole. The Gronckle started hacking. A presence filled that press in my head like smoke and ash.

 ** _LEARN_** **.**

It vomited a single fish which fell in without a sound.

The dragon looked quite pleased with itself. The presence was suddenly a hammering headache. I was about to whine when the buzzing suddenly stopped.

 _That can't be good._

The dragon seemed to notice this too—they all did! It stiffened, eyes darting to and fro, and then…

A deep powerful growl, like an ancient giant's groan, rumbled to life. The ground vibrated.

Instinct told me to law low. Hide Astrid.

Do.

Not.

Move.

I stretched a wing over her head and tried to lead her closer to my dark form. She got the hint and ducked down.

Horror stole my breath as the poor Gronckle tried to buzz away. Something colossal and ugly reared its head out of the lava. The head split open as a blast of hot rot hit my nostrils. My nose curled.

The retreating dragon was caught up into the mouth. It snapped shut, and the sound of the creature's crushed bones rang in my ears.

I flinched, and Astrid gasped. She and I looked at one another.

Oh. My gods.

 ** _LISTEN_** The Presence demanded. **_OBEY_**.

…Shit.

* * *

Hiccup

I saw the whole thing. My view was great guys. It's not like I wanted to miss a-a dragon being crushed to death. No, I live to see gleaming teeth clamp into a rock hard boulder of a dragon. Just _imagine_ what that could do to my tough viking hide. _Great_ imagery.

Totally _not_ gonna haunt my nightmares.

Sleep? Who needs sleep?

I wasn't _terrified_ at all, nope!

I struggled against my captor, wriggling, and squirming, and kicking uselessly. My wrists refused to twist right. I wasn't even strong enough to break them. My finger nails couldn't dig into the little scales that speckled the dragon's feet.

I couldn't see Dragon, or Toothless, or Astrid.

I wanted to retch.

 _Like the Gr—_

NOT GOING THERE!

My heart was hammering while the surrounding army of dragons cowered. My hands tingled as I started to lose feeling in them. Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods!

My writhing while surrounded by a sea of stones didn't go unnoticed. I knew when Toothless saw me because I heard him roar. He shot towards me faster than ever before while, in the distance, Astrid shouted his name. I think he'd left her behind.

This caught the colossal dragon head's attention.

Dear gods, no.

It LUNGED after Toothless, snapping at his tail.

"TOOTHLESS!"

There was barely a breath of air between Toothless and the monster's maw.

Dragon roared and blasted out of his hiding place. He zipped towards the monster, swooping and roaring and making as much noise as he could. It terrified every creature in the volcano. Shrieking rose from every direction.

Toothless tackled the Nadder that was holding me.

Thankfully, its hold had loosened before it could slam us both into a nearby wall of rock. I slipped out of its hold.

Down, down, _down_ I fell.

I screamed.

I was just lucky enough to have been grabbed again. Toothless had me this time, much to my relief.

Now for the escaping part.

* * *

Toothless

 ** _REBEL! TRAITOR! OBEY! OBEY!_**

SCREW THAT!

I hadn't even given it a thought before I'd gone after Hiccup.

The entire Nest quickly devolved into bedlam. A million flapping wings thundered in my ears. Their screams were deafening. Every dragon of every species was joining in the collective madness.

 ** _TRAITOR! DESERTER!_**

I felt the saddle on my back tilt as Hiccup attempted to grasp it. He couldn't climb on, and I wouldn't let him. I held on to him while I made sure Dragon had Astrid.

 ** _COWARD!_**

She was clinging to his back as he followed the fleeing masses upwards. The volcano's cap was wide open. I joined the stampede in a heartbeat.

 ** _RUN AWAY, COWARD! RUN AWAY!_**

 _Sonofa—_

I looked back. A Zippleback had been trailing behind me. However, the colossal head shot up again, and it clamped down on the dragon's tail. The creature's eyes widened in terror. It shrieked out _Help!_ before it was pulled back down.

It disappeared into the smoke like a sick magic trick.

The rest of the escape was a blur. The dragons dispersed in many different directions. Dragon and I quickly put a margin of distance between us and the Nest. I could still see the grand exodus still going strong when I looked back.

If I hadn't known better, I'd have thought the volcano was letting out a thick plume of smoke.

But I did know better.

 ** _DESERTER! DESERTER!_**

And I felt sick.

The screaming became garbled noise.

Hiccup kept looking back. I didn't blame him. The thought of that colossal head poking out of the volcano any second now set my pulse skyrocketing.

The pressure on my head lifted as I kept flying away, and the presence disappeared.

The incoherent screaming was fading, so I continued onward.

The flight back to Berk was intense and quiet.

* * *

Hiccup

The cold wind swept right under my clothes, and I shivered. Looking up at Dragon, I could barely make out Astrid's hunched form. She appeared to be struggling to maintain her balance on his back. Toothless still had a solid grip on my arms, so there wasn't much I could do to help her.

Ultimately, we were all left to the mercy of our private thoughts. Recent events churned around in my head, but I couldn't voice any of it.

I was limp with relief when I saw Berk again. We flew over the warm, illuminated village and into the calm forest. The gleaming waters inside the cove were soon in sight, and Toothless let me down carefully while Astrid jumped off of Dragon's back.

"What! Was! That!?" Astrid cried.

I wasn't even on my feet for a minute before my legs gave out. I fell to my knees as I waited out the spinning in my head. Toothless shrieked, alarmed.

"Hiccup!" Astrid ran to my side, and she was soon kneeling at my side. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah…" I replied. "I just…"

Toothless's face was in mine in a flash, and warm puffs of air tickled my face as he sniffed me over.

"Just lost feeling in my legs—Toothless, ow!" He'd pressed his nose against my left leg, which was definitely sprained. That had stung. "Gimme a minute, bud."

After a few seconds, Astrid asked, "Feeling better now?"

"Yeah."

"Good." Without warning, she then punched me in the shoulder.

"OW!" I grabbed my now-throbbing arm while Astrid glared me down. "What was THAT for!?"

"For being an idiot!" she growled back. "Now what the hel did we just see?"

"I don't know! The Nest!?"

"Not that part, mutton head! I'm talking about that…that THING!"

"Hel if I know!" I flung my hands into the air. "I've never been there before!"

"Oh, well, _that's_ helpful!"

"Why do you expect _me_ to know!?"

"You tell me, Dragon Boy!" She gestured to Dragon and Toothless.

From there, the bickering snowballed down the Hill of Panicking Nerves which, admittedly, was oddly therapeutic.

Dragon and Toothless had decided to stay on the sidelines while Astrid and I expelled our energy. Somewhere along the way, we ended up on our feet, pacing and gesturing and flailing our nervous agitation away.

Dragon eventually wandered off to gather the babies, but Toothless remained by my side. His eyes continued to bounce between us. He opened his mouth a few times, almost as though he'd wanted to butt in, but he closed it every time.

As soon as we ran out of steam, we settled for a quick glare before sitting and turning back to back. Toothless gave me a flat look which I tried to ignore. Eventually, Astrid broke the silence with a loud groan. She buried her face in her hands.

"Gods, it makes perfect sense," she muttered.

I rose an eyebrow.

"The dragons, Hiccup," she said. "The Nest is like some giant beehive. If the dragons are the workers, _IT_ has got to be their queen. She controls them." Astrid's hand rested over her mouth as she seemed to grapple with the thought. "I can't believe it."

"What a mess."

Astrid was soon on her feet. "We need to tell your dad."

"What!? _No_." I stood up and stopped her before she could go any further.

She was incredulous. "No? What do you mean _no_?"

"We can't tell him. We can't tell _anyone—_ "

"And why not?" she demanded.

"They'll kill Toothless!" I exclaimed. "They'll find out! We'd have to tell them!" I was at Toothless's side quickly. "We need a better plan."

She hesitated. "You…really believe that this dragon is Toothless, don't you?"

I looked her in the eyes and said, "Without a doubt."

There was a pause before she shook her head. She tried a new angle. "Hiccup, we just found the dragons' _Nest_! Our ancestors have been looking for it since they first sailed here. And you want to keep it a secret? To protect a dragon who _you think_ is Toothless?"

"He _is_ Toothless." I crossed my arms. "And even if there was a chance I was wrong…" I looked at Toothless who held my gaze. "I'll still take that risk."

Astrid didn't reply.

A few meters away from us, Dragon was herding the little ones into the extra basket I'd left out earlier. Toothless barked at one of them when the little Terror, Accomplice, tried to run into the supply bag instead. Dragon snatched the little one by the tail and carefully dragged him back to the right basket.

Finally, Astrid broke the silence. "So what's the plan?"

I took in a deep breath. "It hasn't changed. I'm still going with Dragon."

"Where?"

"No clue." I laughed. "Toothless's birthplace, hopefully. If I can turn him back and he's safe, we can deal with the Nest." A new thought occurred to me. "I can…tell them I found it on my journey or something. I dunno. It's still risky."

Astrid nodded. "That thing's too big."

"True."

"We can't fight it as we are."

"No, we can't," I agreed. "We'll come up with something. Promise you'll say nothing."

"I promise."

"Swear it on your uncle's life?"

Astrid took in a sharp breath. Her uncle, Fearless Finn Hofferson, had died years ago when Astrid had been a little girl. Mom had dragged a frantic little Astrid into our house that night when the village broke out into a fight for Finn's corpse. I remember that we'd never been able to recover it, and her family had been shamed for his dishonorable demise.

In hindsight, I wanted to take back my words, but she screwed up her face, clenched her fists and said, "Okay, I swear."

I nodded. "Thank you."

I spent the rest of our time together in the cove putting everything in place. I hooked up the supplies to Dragon's back, and I made sure the babies were comfortable in their basket. By the time Toothless's saddle was secured, I'd realized that Astrid had stayed by my side the whole time. Her presence had been comfortable to be honest. I didn't mind.

I finally climbed back onto Toothless's back and secured myself into the saddle.

"Well," I said. "This is goodbye for now."

Astrid took a second to answer. "When will you be back?"

I shrugged. "When Toothless is human again."

She frowned and her eyes flicked from my head to my feet. "Are you armed?"

"Uhhhh…" I smiled nervously. "Kinda?"

Astrid rolled her eyes. "Well, _that's_ comforting."

"I have two dragons with me," I deadpanned. Toothless puffed up at this while Dragon let out a pleased hum. "I'll be fine."

Astrid nodded, and after an awkward moment, she reached up to slug me in the shoulder again! Ouch! "That's for the kidnapping," she stated.

Okay, I deserved that. That didn't make the building bruise I could feel along my arm any less painful though.

Then she grabbed me by my shirt and pulled me in close to her face. I was unprepared for the quick action, but I felt her lips, lighter than air, brush against my cheek. A hot flare of energy blossomed from my chest until my fingertips buzzed with warmth. My face felt like a hearth when she pulled away.

She brushed a strand of hair out of her face, and she said, "That…was for everything else."

Toothless's eyes burned into the back of my head, but Dragon's breathy chuckles broke me and Astrid out of our stupor.

"So, uh, don't die. Okay, Dragon Boy?"

"Y-Yeah, sure. That-that's uh…yeah, that's—"

Toothless grunted. _'Any day now, stupid.'_

I subtly flicked his ear.

"Uhhh are we ready to go, guys?"

Once I got confirmation from both of them, we were off. Astrid stood aside watching my two friends launch themselves into the air. I looked back while her shining eyes continued to follow us, but Berk quickly became a rise in the distance.

We left Berk that night for the first time in my life. But it was most certainly _not_ the last.

* * *

 _HECK YEAH!_

 _I am so thrilled to call this part one a done deal! So here's the plan: I will come back to work on this in December, and hopefully, I will have an idea of how many chapters I've got to shoot for. I should have part two up and running by January or early February._

 _I'm toying with the idea of working with a beta so my updates will be less sporadic, so I am very open to any recommendations if you know any!_

 _Until then, I think I'm gonna take it easy and work on some short oneshots and side stories related to this universe._

 _Now for some reviews:_

 _thearizona: I don't remember if I answered you yet, so here we go! Yeah, it was just fire and brimstone for these poor saps! Their writer is such a jerk, eh? Thank you so much for following me for this long. You are amazing and so patient! I really appreciate you, my friend._

 _Particia Louise A. Pena: Thank you for the review! So to answer your comments: (1) [insert devilish smirk here], (2) my fingers are vibrating with my desire to tell you, and it's killing me here, and (3) yeah someone's gotta dig up these skeletons in his history's closet, and it's probably gonna be our traveling hobos. Let's see how that works out. And as to that Friendly Suggestion™, I'll keep it in mind when I start working out part 2. Who knows? Maybe it's in the game plan, maaaybe it's not._

 _Again, many thanks to readers and reviewers who have come and gone in and out of my inbox! Y'all are fantastic! I always get butterflies and heart attacks every time my email tells me that there is a reader out there who had something to say about my work. It's an amazing feeling._

 _To keep up with me and any changes I may make to my Dragon Boy plans, you can find me on tumblr at tenchikotheauthor! _

_**—Tenchiko**_


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